HOLDING PATTERN
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
Japan beats England 2-1 to earn date with U.S. at B.C. Place on Sunday, a rematch of the 2011 final
“We’re a team that will go home knowing we couldn’t have given any more ... blood, sweat or tears.”
— England coach Mark Sampson
EDMONTON — It was a cruel way to lose a hard-fought battle.
But soccer, like life, can often be cruel.
England defender Laura Bassett knocked the ball into her own net late in the second semifinal of the Women’s World Cup in front of 31,467 fans at Commonwealth Stadium Wednesday to give Japan a 2-1 win and a berth in Sunday’s final in Vancouver against the United States.
Bassett was trying to break up a cross on a late Japanese counterattack and deflected the ball off the crossbar and into her own net past goalkeeper Karen Bardsley two minutes into extra time.
“What a tough one to take,” England head coach Mark Sampson said. “I can’t speak about the game, all I can speak of is how incredibly proud I am of my group. This is an England team that have just given their all. As people, they’ve sacrificed so much for this tournament and have given everything. We’re a team that will go home knowing we couldn’t have given any more ... blood, sweat or tears. We couldn’t have given any more, we gave it our all.”
England had put up a valiant fight to that point and were unlucky not to be up on the defending champions. But with the game destined for 30 minutes of extra time, fate dealt a huge blow to Bassett, who was trying to break up a play.
The English defender got a toe on a cross, by Nahomi Kawasumi, which decided the game. In fairness to Bassett, the ball would have fallen to striker Yuki Ogimi in the box had she not reached for it.
“It wasn’t fair, but if she didn’t try to clear, Ogimi was waiting there for the ball,” Japanese head coach Norio Sasaki said. “She couldn’t do anything anyway. I don’t think you can consider that an own goal. I think that was a situation where we created the chance to score.”
Aya Miyama and Fara Williams had scored from the penalty spot in the first half for Japan and England respectively.
England went into the game as heavy underdogs, but took the play to the Japanese from the onset. Striker Jodie Taylor fired a shot just over the bar a minute into the game.
England pressured Japan in their own half of the field and created a number of opportunities off turnovers from their normally slick-passing opponents.
Prior to conceding the first goal from the penalty spot, England forward Toni Duggan came close on a long shot that bounced just wide.
Japan took the lead against the flow of play in the 33rd minute when England defender Claire Rafferty shoved Japanese defender Saori Ariyoshi in the back just inside the penalty area.
Ariyoshi had made a run out of the back along the wing and was first to a ball lofted over the top of the English defence. She had a lane on goal when knocked over.
Miyama stepped up and converted the penalty to give Japan the lead.
England tied the game on a penalty of its own seven minutes later when Steph Houghton was ruled to have been fouled in the penalty area.
The ball fell to Houghton off a scramble in the box, but replays showed there was minimal contact from Ogimi, who was defending.
Regardless, England midfielder Williams stepped up and buried the spot kick to tie the game.
“Our players were super-human (Wednesday),” Sampson said. “They ran themselves into the ground. Any loose ball on that field, a white jersey was on it.
“And when you want to play like that, you need to play like you’re super-human and we demanded that before the game.”
In the second half, England kept pressuring Japan in their own half and Duggan came close to giving the Three Lionesses the lead, smacking a shot off the crossbar following a turnover.
A couple of minutes later, more English pressure created a chance for Ellen White, whose bending shot forced a great diving save from Japanese goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori.
Shortly thereafter, England had another great opportunity to take the lead when Jill Scott got to the end of a corner, but sent her header wide.
“They were playing in a simple manner and they were very strong,” Sasaki said. “They had us in some tough situations, especially on set pieces. We should have moved the ball better, but our goal was to go to the final and in that sense, we did what we had to do.”