Billed as the Lucy Bronze versus Megan Rapinoe show Jill Ellis had ripped up the script, her four-goal-in-two-games hero stripped of her starting spot and standing to the side as the rest of the team warmed up.
It hinted at an injury but could also have been tactical with Christen Press and Lindsey Horan coming in to add a degree of the unknown to the proceedings.
Phil Neville, too, had changed things up, Rachel Daly coming inon the right wing to detach the effective but potentially predictable Nikita Parris/Bronze axis on England’s right, while Beth Mead slotted in on the left in place of Toni Duggan.
This was chess. Mind games. How can we disrupt the gameplan as much as possible? For both it looked to be a successful strategy.
Parris had laid down the gauntlet before the match started. “We’ve started every game pretty fast as well. Although we’ve not scored I don’t think we’ve conceded in the first 12 minutes either, so I could throw that stat out,” she said.
It was the USA, though, who would continue their run of six goals during the first 12 minutes of each of their five games and it was the recalled Press who would keep the streak going.
With Press incoming at the far post Bronze was caught out of position, too far inside and not looking over her shoulder, and the American headed in under no pressure at all. It was too easy. On her home pitch Bronze had been caught napping.
England, though, had their unknowns in the mix. Mead had said after the Norway game that she would “give anything” for a starting spot in the semi-final and her frustration at being left on the bench is well-documented. “It’s new territory because I play a lot of football for Arsenal so it is frustrating and when he tells us the team I’m not his friend for a few days after,” she said when asked if she is too good a substitute.
It was Mead that would finally find some space for England, though. Keira Walsh, much criticised for her underwhelming World Cup so far, showed a glimpse of her Manchester City form and lofted a wonderful cross-field ball to the feet of Mead who whipped a perfect teasing cross between the defenders for Ellen White to power in.
The winger’s accuracy is a huge strength, particular from dead-ball situations, but when Bronze shimmied her way across the edge of the USA box, muscling every red shirt out the way and poking to a free Mead on the left, it almost looked like the Arsenal player had assumed Lyon’s finest would not get to her, and she tripped over before she could get a clean shot away. It was a bruising mistake.
Ellis had left heads being scratched with Horan’s omission against Spain and France, and perhaps those games were closer because of her absence in favour of Sam Mewis. But it was the Portland Thorns player who would reassert the Americans’ lead. Dipping out to the left wing, Horan swung the ball towards Alex Morgan at the near post and the forward joined White at the top of the Golden Boot standings on six goals.
With the match on a knife edge and the USA unable to capitalise on their first-half dominance, both managers twisted. Mewis came on to push Julie Ertz into the back five they adopted late against France, and Fran Kirby and Jade Moore came in to add grit and control in the middle.
The ever-versatile Daly switched from right to left and Kirby slotted inside. Coming off the bench, a less-than-familiar role for the No 10, Kirby looked to have made the difference, and twisting on the edge of the box she slipped the ball to Demi Stokes who fed towards White.
White earned a penalty but the captain Steph Houghton’s weak effort undid Kirby’s early work. Horan distastefully celebrated behind Houghton as she spoke to the press post match, forcing the England captain away in tears.
The penalty was perhaps Neville’s undoing, so determined to stick to his guns before this moment, and it was Houghton who stepped up instead of Parris – who had had two of her three spot kicks saved in this tournament. The reduction of numbers, with Millie Bright’s red card on 86 minutes, cut Neville’s wilting gameplan apart at the death. Ellis and the USA had provided another tactical masterclass in game management to finish off the Lionesses.
