What a month it has been for the Lionesses, leaving late May to go to Canada more in hope than expectation and just over a month later they arrive back as heroes and rightly so. When England played their first game out in Canada against the host a week before the tournament it is fair to say the team performance looked fairly disjointed with only a couple of players sticking out. Manager Mark Sampson tactics were questioned having taken a number of players who had recently returned from injury. Things didn’t get any easier for the team heading into their first group game against France and again Sampson’s tactics left fans including myself astounded. In that game for example he had right back Lucy Bronze starting on the left wing while also playing a number of others in positions which left the fans scratching their heads. England went on to lose that match but from then on the team grew and captured a nation’s hearts back home. The Lionesses won their remaining two group games against Mexico and Colombia to clinch 2nd place in the group behind and France and advance to the knockout stages. After this England did something they’ve never achieved and that was winning a World Cup knockout game where the edged out Norway 2-1 thanks in partly to a cracker from England’s player of the tournament Lucy Bronze. The Lionesses then went on to face their toughest test, host Canada in Vancouver, this was ultimately their best performance and got fans to believe that they could win the World Cup having recorded a 2-0 win. In the last four they faced 2011 Champions Japan, where the dream of lifting the trophy was diminished in a very cruel way. Having looked the more likely team to advance to the final a unfortunate 92nd injury time own goal by one of England’s stand out players, Laura Bassett saw the Lionesses bow out, but bow out with plenty of pride. A 3rd place play-off victory over a Germany side that they had never beaten in 20 attempts, saw the team break even more history. Overall the Lionesses achieved much more than what was expected of them as they capped of their best ever finish at a World Cup. For this Mark Sampson and his coaching staff as well as well as the 23 players who worked their socks off need to be praised and have. As all their hard work has inspired a nation and hopefully as a result more fans will be eager to get down and support their local women’s side. Exciting times ahead for the women’s game if the authorities play their cards right. Regarding the national side if all goes well they will be participating in the Netherlands at the 2017 European Championships, while in four years’ time France is the destination for the next World Cup and I for one am inspired to be there and play a part of it. Lionesses we are all proud of your achievement, here’s to a bright future!
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