Edmonton (Canada): A 108th-minute penalty kick by Fara Williams gave England their first ever win over top ranked Germany and a third place finish at the Women’s World Cup on Saturday.The 1-0 victory after 120 minutes of gritty battle at Edmonton’s Common-wealth Stadium gave the sixth-ranked ‘Lionesses’ their first win over the European champions on their 21st attempt. It also helped bury the heartache of the injury time own-goal by defender Laura Bassett which had ended their title bid during a 1-2 semifinal loss to defending champions Japan.
“It feels a lot better to be sitting here after that than it did the other day,” said England coach Mark Sampson.“To bounce back from what was a real, real blow for us, it’s an incredible result for the team.“We knew the challenge we faced today from a world class Germany team. I’m just incredibly proud of all the players and staff, to achieve a third place finish, to go home as the top European nation, to finally beat Germany. It’s something that these players will be remembered for forever,” he added
The third place play-off had gone into extra time after the teams were locked 0-0 at the end of 90 minutes.But England were awarded a penalty just minutes into the second period of extra time after Lianne Sanderson was pulled down by Tabea Kemme. And Williams slotted in past former world goalkeeper of the year Nadine Angerer, who playing her final match for Germany, dived the wrong way.“It didn’t surprise me as we have seen what England could do over the course of this tournament. They really wanted it today, they were very clever in their game,” said Germany coach Silvia Neid.
