I am really starting to believe that England are cursed to only getting as far as the semi finals. It just seems like they really can't get any further no matter how hard they try, it happened in 2015, the Euros in 2017 and now this years world cup.
They definitely came up against tough competition this time around as they faced current holders the USA, one of my favourite teams. It was always going to be a good game as England have played well as have the USA and after the draw in the She Believes cup it could have been anybody's game.
Notably missing from the USA was Megan Rapinoe who was dropped and Press brought on in her place. For England Stokes kept her place at left back and Daly and Mead were brought into the middle.
Press kicked off the scoring in just the 10 minute, left unmarked an easy looking header found the back of the net. The cross in from O'Hara was absolutely fantastic and the finish was just as good. But what I don't understand is how she got away from Bronze so easily. I may be English but I am so glad that Press got her goal, in my opinion she is a massively underrated played and Jill should give her more game time as she is constantly improving.
It took just 9 minutes for England to reply with a nice goal from Ellen White a clever ball through and an easy slot home for England's top scorer of the competition. I said it the other day on Twitter but I will say it again on here I have never really been a fan of Ellen White but this competition has really had me changing my mind I have really started to take a liking to her fingers crossed she can carry on this form and hit the ground running at Man City.
Morgan put the USA 2-1 up in the 31st minute with a clever header to beat Telford. It was another case of poor defending from England in the build up to the goal Morgan just seemed to be left and Stokes was trailing behind to try catch her up.
Unfortunately this was how the score-line stayed for the full game after White's 2nd was ruled out for offside (she must have literally been a fraction off) and Steph unfortunately missed a penalty, the penalty itself was a soft one Sauerbrunn must have just clipped White to stop her getting the goal but when receiving the yellow card it was like Sauerbrunn accepted there was contact.
All in all the USA looked the better side all game England just didn't seem to have the composure they had in previous games, possibly it was the occasion getting to them. Passes just didn't seem to connect between either with the USA gaining possession in silly places. Then you have the red card for Bright, the 1st yellow seemed ridiculous especially when a lot worse happened to Scott just a few minutes later but Bright's second challenge definitely warranted a yellow it was just reckless and her frustration was really showing. There were times in the game where the USA seemed to go down far too easy and ended up wasting time but that is up to the ref to stopped, but I honestly think the refereeing yesterday was poor, there just seemed to be no consistency.
The USA definitely looked the stronger side especially in the one on one instances. Heath and O'Hara once again ran that ride hand side of the field causing all sorts of issues for the Lionesses. But England did do well at times and can hold their heads high as they have done so well this tournament conceding just 3 goals in 6 games now that is a great statistic and they have played some great games unfortunately though they just didn't have enough left in the tank.
England will go on to play in the 3rd place match on Saturday and the USA will go on to the final on Sunday.
See you soon.
Lucy
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