England made history
this afternoon in Rosario 
when they won their first Women's World Cup medal.They dominated their bronze medal match against Germany and England goalkeeper Beth Storry was hardly troubled in the first half. At the other end of the pitch, Alex Danson gave notice of what was to come, when she fired a shot at the German goal only to see it blocked by 'keeper Kristina Reynolds. But Danson was not to be denied for long. Then, in the 28th minute, some good work at the top of the 'D' by Hannah MacLeod saw the ball passed to Danson, whose magnificent reverse stick shot found the back of the net. It seemed barely a three minutes later when a drive by Danson into the circle was touched on by Helen Richardson, through the legs of Reynolds and into the back of the net. MacLeod was in the thick of the action again when she got her stick to a cross in front of goal, but she did not get quite enough power on it to stop Reynolds intercepting it.
England dominated the second half too. A solo effort by Helen Richardson, which ended in a cross, found an undefended net but with nobody to pop the ball into the goal. Katie Long had a good scoring chance, but her shot went just wide.
Both goalkeepers had excellent games – Reynolds denying Cullen at penalty corners and Beth Storry doing similar work in the England goal. What was possibly Germany's best scoring chance of the game was saved by Storry when Katherina Otte shot at close range.
As the game approached its dying minutes, Germany just seem to run out of ideas. Some of the frustration showed as Julia Muller received a yellow card, only eight minutes after returning to the pitch after a green card suspension. England's defence had been rock solid, and with Richardson commanding the midfield and Danson and MacLeod a constant threat, the minutes ticked away to a historic 2-0 England win.
Argentina play The Netherlands later this evening (Saturday) in the final.
