admin LE HAVRE, France – On Thursday it was England’s best performance of the World Cup to date, and they now entered into the final four, where they will face either the USA or France in Lyon.
In the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup England with their best performance of the tournament beat Norway 3-0.
The Lionesses were dominant throughout the first half and went into the breakup 2-0 Jill Scott’s third-minute goal and Ellen White’s fifth strike of this World Cup. They could have had five at the break but for missed opportunities with Nikita Parris firing over, White hitting the post and Scott unable to convert a looping far-post cross.
They had more dominant spells in the second half, with the outstanding Lucy Bronze’s thunderbolt giving them a 3-0 lead, but there were again concerns at the back as Norway generated a number of good chances but were unable to convert, with captain Steph Houghton clearing one shot off the line and Karen Bardsley standing equal to other shots. England could have had a fourth late on, but Parris’ penalty — for a foul on Houghton — was well saved by Ingrid Hjelmseth.
Bronze popped up for England’s third goal, a beautifully struck one-time shot on the edge of the penalty area from a free kick. Her distribution was world-class, but factor in her work rate and she becomes of the most complete players in the game. England manager Phil Neville has previously used her in midfield, and don’t rule out him trying this again if they come up against the U.S. in the semifinals as it worked well in their SheBelieves Cup match, but the team thrives off her crossing and energy down that right-hand side.
Norway were brilliant against Australia, and could have beaten France in the group stages. But they found it hard to play to their strengths against England. The outstanding duo of Barcelona-bound Caroline Graham Hansen and Chelsea’s Guro Reiten struggled to get the same amount of time and influence on the ball as they had enjoyed in their recent matches. Hansen, who had a brilliant tournament, lost her ruthless streak while Reiten found it hard up against Bronze. Norway had their chances — they had a great spell around the 60-minute mark — but never managed to find their cutting edge.
Source: espn news
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