England go against Germany in Saturday night’s third-place World Cup play-off, with Mark Sampson calling on his side to become the second best England team in history.
Only one English side has gone better than a third-place finish in the World Cup, and that was the famous 1966 team that beat West Germany at Wembley.
The closest an English side has come to reaching a World Cup final since ‘66, is the England’s men side that came fourth at Italia 1990.
Sampson, 32, said he was “determined” to “join that club” as he readies his side for a clash against Germany, who are top scorers at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, with 20 goals – 17 of them been from open play.
The England manager praised his Lionesses side, saying it’s “an incredible achievement” to have reached this stage of a World Cup, whilst wanting to “make more history.”
Germany are ranked number one in the world at the minute, having been named European champions six times in a row. Sampson sees England’s game against Germany as a “champions of Europe match,” saying that this would be “the next best thing.”
England's route to their highest finish at the Women's World Cup
England started off their World Cup campaign with an opening Group F defeat to France, following a 29th minute goal by Eugénie Le Sommer.
The Lionesses then recorded four straight 2-1 victories on the bounce, with their first win of the 2015 Women’s World Cup coming against Mexico. Fran Kirby, 22, put England in the lead before Karen Carney sealed England’s win eight minutes from time. Fabiola Ibarra scored for Mexico late into added time.
England then took a 2-0 lead against Colombia through Birmingham’s Carney, 27, and Liverpool’s Fara Williams, who scored from the spot. Again conceding in the 92nd minute, Lady Andrade pulled a goal back for Colombia, which amounted to nothing.
Sampson’s side were up against Norway in the Round of 16, going behind to a goal from Solveig Gulbrandsen just after the break. An equaliser from Steph Houghton got England back in the tie, before Lucy Bronze unleashed a thunderbolt from 25-yards, setting up a quarter-final tie against hosts, Canada.
Two goals within three minutes of each other gave England an early two-goal lead in the first half. Jodie Taylor scored her first ever World Cup goal with a neat finish across Erin McLeod before Bronze scored the second after 14 minutes. A goal just before the break from Canada’s Christine Sinclair set up a nervy second half for England, who managed to progress to the semi-finals – the furthest they have progressed.