England’s Bassett is devastated as Japan advances to final on own goal
It was the cruellest, most abrupt possible ending to a near-glorious Women’s World Cup run by the Lionesses of England.
Before anyone could see it coming, there the ball was in the back of the England goal, an own goal as the decider in the 92nd minute in a 2-1 victory that sent defending champion Japan into Sunday’s gold-medal final against two-time champion United States in Vancouver this Sunday.
On a Japanese counterattack, Laura Bassett, a central defender, tried to clear away a cross by Nahomi Kawasumi, a pass intended for Japan’s gifted striker, Yuki Ogimi.
Bassett’s defensive play went horribly wrong. The ball bounced off her right knee, arced high in the air, caromed off the crossbar and down into the goal behind goalkeeper Karen Bardsley.
There is unlucky, as the British like to say, and then there is catastrophically unlucky.
An anguished Bassett first threw her arms up in the air, then hunched over, hands on knees, when she swiftly realized that bit of diabolical bad fortune had ruined a brilliant game by England, destroyed their dream of making the final, against all odds.
“Ahh, what a tough one,” said a red-eyed head coach Mark Sampson, who had run onto the pitch at game’s end to console Bassett and her teammates, who all huddled around the devastated Bassett for long minutes. “What a tough one to take.
“This is an England team that have just given their all. As people, they sacrificed so much this tournament and they gave everything, absolutely everything. “We’re a team who will go home knowing that we could not have done any more, given any more ounce of blood, sweat or tears, smiles. Whatever it was, we couldn’t give any more. We gave our all. I’m very, very proud of the group.”
England, who had eliminated Canada 2-1 in the quarter-final, came with an inch or two of knocking off the defending champion before disaster struck in stoppage time.
Toni Duggan had drilled a ball off the crossbar in the 62nd minute. A curling strike by Ellen White had been punched away by a diving Ayumi Kaihori, the Japanese keeper, a minute or two later.
In the 66th minute, Jill Scott headed a ball just wide off an England corner.
On defence, England had largely contained the speedy, skilled Japanese, preventing them from deploying their intricate passing combinations that so few teams can cope with.
After the match, Sampson, the Welshman with the Churchillian rhetorical flourishes, proudly defended and celebrated his team, as he should have.
“The way we’ve gone out today, as hard as it is, we’re making even more heroes,” Sampson said, adding that starts with Laura Bassett.
“The way Laura Bassett has played today and in this tournament, she has epitomized all the values that English football fans want to see in that white jersey when you’ve got three lions on your chest,” Sampson said. “Pride, passion, never say die, and play for the team.”
The team was there for Bassett at game’s end, and in truly poignant, heartbreaking fashion.
“It was a horrible moment, obviously, for Laura,” Sampson said. “You can see the regard in which the team hold Laura and all their teammates by their reaction.”
Nor did Sampson have the slightest doubt that Bassett will be welcomed back to England as a hero, regardless the outcome of the semifinal or, for that matter, the result in the bronze medal match that England must somehow regroup to play against Germany in Edmonton on Saturday.
“What are they going to say?” Sampson said, referring to a potentially harsh media response back home. “That she was outstanding over the course of the tournament and a deflection that’s come off her knee that goes in the goal in the last minute?
“No, no. Our media will be behind Laura. When she comes home she’ll be a hero.”
Sampson applauded Japan’s victory, brutal though it so obviously was for his team to swallow.
“They’re the world champions, and today we saw why they’re the world champions, because they’ve got hearts of lions,” Sampson said. “They hang in there, they stay in the game, they represent their country in a manner their country should be very, very proud.
“It was a horrible moment for us, but I give huge credit to the Japanese team for withstanding the England onslaught in the second half.”
Understandably, Bassett did not speak with reporters in the mixed zone following the match. She was, Sampson said, “in a hard place,” but supported by teammates and family, and some time, she would get back in the game.