England beats Germany for third place

Fast forward just three days and England’s joy was palpable after a tense 1-0 extra-time victory.

Captain Steph Houghton hopes England hang on to manager Mark Sampson after his tactical ingenuity guided the Lionesses to third place at the Women’s World Cup.

No last-minute heartbreak this time around. “And that’s what we did”.

PRE-MATCH: Sampson appears to have switched formation for this match with England adopting a 5-2-3 system.

It was reminiscent of how England lost to Japan, when Laura Bassett directed the ball into her own goal with a minute left in stoppage time. “There are moments from that tournament back in ’66, the Hurst hat-trick, the Bobby Moore tackle, and the players will remembered forever for some of the moments in this tournament”.

As the game progressed, England’s formation allowed them to create more space in front of the opponents’ defence and play more aggressively, but the game remained 0-0 at the break.

It had never won an elimination game in the Women’s World Cup in three previous appearances.

The top ranked Germans, still the highest-scoring team in the tournament, were blanked by a superior United States defense and fell 2-0 to watch their designation as the Cup favorites wither away. Germany’s bid for a record third title after 2003 and 2007 ended as a result.

It also was a disappointing end to the World Cup careers of German coach Silvia Neid and Angerer. “This is reality”, Neid said. “It’s been overwhelming. I’d change (the ending) in a heartbeat if I could”.

England applied the pressure late on with both Alex Scott and Houghton having great chances in the last 15 minutes but the lack of conversion meant that the game went to extra-time. The penalty shot was perfectly justified.

Karen Bardsley was forced to deny Lena Petermann and Celia Sasic while Steph Houghton did brilliantly to acrobatically clear off the line after Jo Potter’s miscued defensive header looked to be dropping into her own net.

Either they will play a very nice match and throttle the English or they will sulk because they were beaten by the Americans despite everyone telling them they were the best team in the world.

“I don’t think it’ll be until we get back that it’ll sink in what we’ve achieved over here”. The 2013 Federation Internationale de Football Association Women’s Player of the Year, the only goalkeeper male or female to win a Federation Internationale de Football Association Player of the Year award, plans to retire after this tournament.

Anja Mittag could have snatched an equaliser in the 113th minute, but her 20-yard free kick was dealt with by the in-form England shotstopper.

Fullback Bianca Schmidt appeared to have a goal in the ninth minute with a blooper heading for the far post.

The exploits of the women’s team in their run to the last four caught the imagination of the British public and attracted support from Prince William and men’s national team captain Wayne Rooney.