Vancouver--England ended hosts' Canada's dream at the Women's World Cup with a 2-1 win on Saturday to advance to the semi-finals for the first time where they play defending champions Japan who beat Australia 1-0.
An early goal blitz from Jodie Taylor and Lucy Bronze dampened the cheers of the 54,027 crowd in BC Place Stadium and kept England on track after losing their opening game of the tournament against France.
"The dream's over, it's not how we imagined it to end," said Canada coach John Herdman.
"We hadn't written the script to be 2-0 down that early. Gutted, gutted for all of Canada.
"They (England) were hard to break down. They went for it, good on them, they got their tactics right and won the match."
'The Three Lionesses' next meet Japan who dominated against Australia but needed an 87th minute goal from substitute Mana Iwabuchi to advance in their quarter-final game in Edmonton.
Former two-time winners Germany and the United States play the second semi-final in Ottawa on Tuesday, with England meeting Japan on Wednesday in Edmonton.
England were gifted the opener after 11 minutes following a howler by defender Lauren Sesselmann who proved to be the weak link in Canada's back line.
The 31-year-old Sesselmann swiped at the ball, missed and fell over, allowing Taylor to pounce and race towards goal past the onrushing Canadian defenders to finish off.
Just three minutes later the hosts were in disarray as Bronze headed in a second, with the stunned Canadian players immediately gathering into a huddle to try and regroup.
But captain Christine Sinclair pulled one back three minutes before the break following a blunder by Karen Bardsley in the England goal.
AFP
