Aggression? Bring it on...
whole nation behind their team. Our players are ready for that. We’re at the quarter- fi nal stage of a World Cup and there’s pressure on both teams. But there’s more pressure on the Canadian team, and we’ve seen that over the course of the tournament.
“We have seen performances from them that didn’t resemble the Canadian team I’ve seen over the last six months.
“They’ve been a different team at this tournament, they’ve relied on some fortunate refereeing decisions, some big individual moments. And I’m not sure we’ve seen Canada score a really strong goal, a goal that hasn’t come from an opponent’s error or a refereeing error. So we’re fully aware that they’re under huge pressure and at the moment they’re fi nding it diffi cult. There’s a huge opportunity for us to put even more pressure on them.
“Every single game they’ve had to play right to the last minute, fi ghting in there until the fi nal whistle, so we might have to grind out a result.
“If we do we’ll be fully up for that challenge, but we know we’ve got to bring a big performance.” The recent history of games between the two nations favours England, who won four games in succession – including two Cyprus Cup fi nals – before losing 1- 0 to Herdman’s side in a pre- tournament friendly in Hamilton last month.
A return to winning ways will mean an historic semi- fi nal for England in Edmonton on Wednesday, and Sampson is confi dent he and his team will be there.
ENGLAND
CANADA Kick- off: TV:
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