History of Soccer in England

England's women produced a strong second half comeback to secure a famous victory Monday afternoon in Ottawa, knocking former Women's World Cup winner Norway out of the tournament in the Round of 16 to secure a quarterfinal against host Canada in Vancouver on Saturday night.

Relative international newcomer Lucy Bronze, getting the call at right back from coach Mark Sampson, struck the 2-1 game-winner with 14 minutes of normal time remaining, hitting the top right corner from outside the box. It was as good a goal as the tournament has seen and decided a game that Norway long controlled only to lose the script after taking the lead.

The result also confirmed the changing of the guard in European women's play, Norway, the 1995 World Cup winner, yielding pride of place to an England eleven which has grown consistently since participating as part of Great Britain in the London Olympics and can now rightly stake a claim among the world elite. They had previously failed at this type of hurdle but had the stamina and guile to survive on a very warm afternoon in the Canadian capital.

Solveig Gulbrandsen, the 34-year old veteran midfielder with 184 caps to her name, gave Norway the opening goal early in the second half after they had dominated play territorially without being able to cash in on that edge but England replied with captain Steph Houghton bringing the Three Lionesses level as she fought through traffic to head home from a corner.

That gave England the platform to fight on for Bronze's strike which meant that the English could stretch their recent unbeaten run against Europe's former leaders to five games, four of which were friendlies. Goalkeeper Karen Bardsley was again big in the net for England, stopping three clear chances when her defense was beaten by Norwegian attackers.

Both teams battled the summer heat and bright sunshine on the artificial turf of Lansdowne Stadium, with passes again proving hard to read on the surface, often racing to the endline or touchline before players could reach them. It was again not uncommon to see even throw-ins bounce over their intended target off the ersatz playing field.