England fought back from a goal down to win 2-1 and overcome a tenacious Colombia side roared on by a boisterous crowd in Sydney to set up a semi-final against co-hosts Australia on Wednesday.
Colombia, appearing in their first-ever quarter-final, approached the game in robust fashion, with 18-year-old Linda Caicedo operating on the left of a front three their most potent attacking threat.
As in their previous knockout game against Nigeria, England again lacked some fluency at times but went in level at 1-1 at half-time, benefiting from a goalkeeping error from Colombia’s Catalina Perez that allowed Lauren Hemp to score in added time following Leicy Santos’ effort that looped over Mary Earps. Alessia Russo then scored the winner to allow the Lionesses to progress.
Our women’s football reporter Charlotte Harpur is joined by Jacob Whitehead to analyse this quarter-final from Stadium Australia.
Goalkeeping has been better than ever this World Cup — but rare mistakes define first-half
As explained by The Athletic earlier this week, this World Cup has seen outstanding goalkeeping performances from players such as Sweden’s Zecira Musovic, Jamaica’s Becky Spencer and Haiti’s Kerly Theus. What has also been remarkable is the level of goalkeeping from supposedly smaller…
