England to thwart Japan’s title defence?

In contrast to last night’s semi-final between the world’s two highest ranked teams, Germany and USA, this evening’s second semi-final pits together two nations with vastly differing records at this level.

Japan, 2011 champions, will start as favourites in most people’s eyes, while standing in their way of a second successive Final appearance is newcomers to this stage of the competition - England.

Contrasting football styles provide the backdrop to the second semi-final at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Local fans were hoping to celebrate Canada Day by watching the Canucks in action, only for England to play the role of spoilers with their quarter-final win over the hosts. Neither team will be affected by suspension, although Japan of course lost key forward Kozue Ando to injury early in the tournament.

England coach Mark Sampson was at pains to point out the impressive resilience of his team and it is hard to argue with the evidence. England overcame a slow start to the tournament with in a low-key 1-0 loss to France, and have since recorded four successive 2-1 wins. Included in the run were a comeback victory over Norway, and that win against the hosts in front of a vociferous Vancouver crowd.
Japan’s results have partly mirrored England with Norio Sasaki's side claiming five successive one-goal victories. A theme of those matches has been early goals for the reigning champions, and comfortable second-half performances.

Japan, however, were held in the quarter-final until the dying minutes by Australia, but true to their philosophy the Nadeshiko maintained their swift ball-movement and mental strength to prevail.

A win for Japan in Edmonton will mean they have reached three successive global finals, including the 2012 London Olympics.
— FIFA