England will play Germany in the Women's World Cup 2015 3rd Place Playoff on Saturday in a game at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Canada. The game has a scheduled kick off time of 4 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the Fox network, or online through live stream via the link below.
Germany, the number 1 ranked team in the world, will be big favorites to win here today. England have never defeated Germany in 20 attempts, and it will be tough for England to step up to their top intensity after the manner of their semi-final defeat just days ago.
England had hoped to tread in the footsteps of their men's national football team, and replicate their winning of the World Cup in 1966. However, their dreams were left in tatters in the semi-final, after a cruel twist of fate saw England concede an own goal two minutes into injury time at the end of the 90 minutes to eliminate them from the competition.
The own goal came after England had matched reigning World champions, Japan, all through the game. England even had most of the better chances in the second half and were unlucky on a number of occasions as they hit the crossbar twice, were denied by a fantastic save from the Japanese goalie, and also saw another headed chance go agonizingly inches wide of the post.
However, in the end it's all about making sure you put the ball in the back of the net, and that ultimately is the only area England fell down in their semi final. Then by a devastating twist with extra time and even penalties potentially looming, the Laura Bassett own goal killed them off in an instant, and with no time left in the game to recover, their World Cup was over.
England coach Mark Sampson though has urged his team to lift themselves and set their sights immediately on another goal - to become England's second best World Cup side ever by defeating Germany and claiming third place.
"There's only one English team that's finished higher than third, we're determined to join that club," he said. "There's only us and the 1966 team that have won as many games at World Cups - it's an incredible achievement. So we want to give ourselves the best chance of achieving something special on Saturday, making more history."
Sampson added: "I think we'll look at it as a champions of Europe match. We can't win the world title, but this is the next best thing."
He indicated that there would be no difficulty getting the team motivated for the game, saying "If I walked away now they [England] would turn up on Saturday and absolutely go for it. I won't but I don't think this team will need any extra motivation. It's England versus Germany."
Today's Women's World Cup 2015 Semi Final between England and Germany will start at 4 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the Fox network or online through live stream by clicking here.
