England have booked themselves a mouthwatering Women’s World Cup semi-final showdown with hosts Australia after rallying to see off Colombia in a 2-1 victory.
The European champions had to dig deep with goals from Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo helping them cancel out Leicy Santos’ opener in front of 75, 784 fans at Sydney’s Stadium Australia.
England will return here on Wednesday when they take on the hometown hero Matildas, who defeated France on penalties earlier in the day.
In a worrying sign for Australia, England showed their champion qualities in Saturday’s semi-final win as they became the first side at this tournament to come from behind to win a knockout game.
England could, and perhaps should have, done better against a Colombian outfit, who head home with their reputation significantly enhanced.
This was only Colombia’s third World Cup and they dispatched two-time champions Germany en route to their best-ever showing at the tournament.
They were under the pump from England early and goalkeeper Catalina Perez was called into action inside the opening five minutes.
She denied Hemp from close range and then as she scrambled to block Rachel Daly’s rebound she clattered into defender Carolina Arias, who fell to the ground.
Arias’ head was the only thing that denied England a goal and the defender was unable to continue.
Ana Guzman took her place and delighted in roughing up Hemp and Daly, the latter flashing a header straight at Perez as Colombia began to grow into the game.
Teenage sensation Linda Caicedo was beginning to put England’s defence out of kilter with some scheming runs and it wasn’t long before Santos put them ahead.
Santos bore down the right edge of the England box and dispatched a pinpoint lob over the head of a backpedalling Mary Earps to give her side the lead in the 44th minute.
It was the first goal England had conceded from open play at this tournament but they quickly squared the ledger.
On a greasy surface, Perez fumbled a ball into the box and sparked a goalmouth scramble with Hemp on hand to level the scores in the seventh minute of first-half added time.
Russo doubled their tally soon after the hour mark when a sublime ball by Georgia Stanway split the Colombian defence and she was able to bury it past Perez in the 63rd minute.
Earps was forced to tip a late Lorena Durrango thunderbolt from distance over the bar as Colombia searched for an equaliser but England were able to hold on and set up their semi-final clash with Australia.
© AAP
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