England ruins host Canada’s bid for crown
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Jodie Taylor and Lucy Bronze scored in the first 14 minutes, and England eliminated Canada from its home World Cup with a 2-1 victory in the quarterfinals Saturday.
England overcame a frenzied Canadian crowd at BC Place and a secondhalf goalkeeper change to secure its first trip to the semifinals.
England crushed the hopes of a host nation hoping to celebrate Canada’s first World Cup title on this field next month.
“To play against a crowd that was basically about 54,000 of them against us and only 10 for us, was an unbelievable experience,” Bronze said.
Instead, England will face defending champion Japan in the semifinals in Edmonton, Alberta, on Wednesday — which also happens to be Canada Day.
Christine Sinclair scored in the 42nd minute for Canada, which had given up just one goal in the entire World Cup before giving up two just three minutes apart.
After Taylor scored the opener on a horrible turnover by Dash defender Lauren Sesselmann, Bronze added an impressive long header to build a lead England never relinquished.
Although Sinclair got one goal back before halftime, Canada struggled to generate many good chances in the waning minutes of the scoreless second half. The drought slowly crushed the crowd of 54,027, most wearing red and supporting their plucky, defense-minded team.
“I’m proud of my girls,” Canada coach John Herdman said. “They give you everything. It just wasn’t good enough tonight. The dream is over. It’s not how we imagined it to end.”
Siobhan Chamberlain replaced England goalie Karen Bardsley early in the second half when Bardsley complained about a problem with her right eye. Chamberlain is on her third World Cup team, but got about 30 seconds to warm up for her first appearance. JAPAN 1, AUSTRALIA 0
Mana Iwabuchi scored during a scramble in front in the 87th minute and defending champion Japan beat Australia in the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals in Edmonton, Alberta.
Fourth-ranked Japan has won eight straight tournament games.