At the 21st time of asking the Lionesses beat Germany to take the bronze medal at the World Cup Finals. Although this was not the match either team wanted to play both teams gave it everything.
The Lionesses defended as if their lives depended on it; after just a few minutes had been played Steph Houghton hooked the ball away from the line although moments before she had been floored by an injury. On the few occasions that Germany were allowed through they either failed to deliver or Karen Bardsley (player of the match) stood strong, on one occasion making a stunning save.
Germany were clearly rattled by the physical approach that England were taking and must have been puzzled at how different this team were to the one they faced at Wembley last November, when they ran out easy winners at 3-0. On that occasion England were disorganised and stood off Germany letting them play, run their channels and giving them free hits at goal. Sampson had said that his team had learnt from that loss and they certainly showed that they had.
The game looked as if it was heading towards penalties when Tabea Kemme held on to Lianne Sanderson just a bit too closely and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Cometh the moment cometh Fara Williams she was completely un-phased by the shenanigans of Alexandra Popp or the epic German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer and coolly slotted the ball into the corner to score.
Ten minutes of normal time remained and the England team battled to the end to preserve their slender lead and continue to make history for this remarkable group: first time to get out of the group stage, first time to get to the quarter finals and first time to get to a semi finals plus first time in 21 attempts to beat Germany. I am sure they will continue to be disappointed not to have reached the final, but finally we have a team that really believes they can win, and will not submit tamely to anyone.
The biggest legacy will be the number of youngsters, particularly girls who will be inspired to get into sport. I hope also the gates at the WSL games will rise as more people attend games, and aside from the little matter of the World Cup Final to look forward to tonight (USA v Japan) many people will be looking forward to the Women’s FA Cup Final at Wembley on 1st August.
England: 1 Karen Bardsley (Manchester City); 5 Steph Houghton (captain; Manchester City), 6 Laura Bassett (Notts County), 17 Jo Potter (Birmingham City); 12 Lucy Bronze (Manchester City), 4 Fara Williams (Liverpool), 16 Katie Chapman (Chelsea), 14 Alex Greenwood (Notts County); 8 Jill Scott (Manchester City), 23 Ellen White (Notts County), 10 Karen Carney (Birmingham City).
Substitutes: 9 Eniola Aluko (Chelsea) for White 61′, 20 Lianne Sanderson (Arsenal) for Chapman 80′, 15 Casey Stoney (Arsenal) for Williams 111′
Substitutes not used: 2 Alex Scott (Arsenal), 3 Claire Rafferty (Chelsea), 7 Jordan Nobbs (Arsenal), 11 Jade Moore (Birmingham City), 13 Siobhan Chamberlain (Arsenal), 18 Toni Duggan (Manchester City), 19 Jodie Taylor (Portland Thorns), 21 Carly Telford (Notts County), 22 Fran Kirby (Reading).
Goal: Williams (108′)
Bookings: Chapman 77′, Bardsley 83′, Bassett 92′
Head coach: Mark Sampson
Germany: 1 Nadine Angerer (C); Bianca Schmidt, 14 Babett Peter, 3 Saskia Bartusiak, 22 Tabea Kemme; 6 Simone Laudehr, 20 Lena Goessling, 7 Melanie Behringer, 23 Sara Daebritz; 13 Celia Sasic, 19 Lena Petermann.
Substitutes: 16 Melanie Leupolz for Behringer ht, 11 Anja Mittag for Sasic 73, 18 Alexandra Popp for Goessling 101
Substitutes not used: 4 Leonie Maier, 5 Annike Krahn, 8 Pauline Bremer, 9 Lena Lotzen, 10 Dzsenifer Marozsan, 12 Almuth Schult, 15 Jennifer Cramer, 17 Josephine Henning, 21 Laura Benkarth
Head coach: Silvia Neid
Referee: Hyank Ok RI
Attendance: 21,483
