England fought tooth and nail and played out of their skin to hold formidable Germany to a goalless draw and brighten their chances of making it to the knockout stage of the World Cup of women’s football tournament.
After the draw against Japan in the previous match, England could not afford to lose this one and coach Hope Powell’s decision to field Anita Asante as central defender and push Mary Phillip to right-back paid dividends as the side managed a draw.
England may have drawn with Germany but the job is not done yet. They will have to beat Argentina with a two-goal margin to qualify for the knockout stage.
At one stage, England almost conceded a goal from Germany but goalkeeper Rachel Brown came up with a brilliant save to thwart Kerstin Garefrekes’ effort.
This was a morale-boosting effort from the English players, considering the fact that the Germans were in red hot form, having opened their campaign with an 11-0 thrashing of Argentina.
