Blunder costs England again
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China Daily, June 29, 2011
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England's goalkeeper, Karen Bardsley, fails to save the equalizing goal during the World Cup Group B match against Mexico on Monday in Wolfsburg, northern Germany. Johannes Eisele / Agence France-Presse |
Just like at last year's men's World Cup, a goalkeeping error cost England a World Cup point as its women's team was held to a 1-1 draw by Mexico, leaving coach Hope Powell to rue missed opportunities.
Few Three Lions' fans need reminding of England goalkeeper Robert Green's calamity in its opening game in South Africa when he fumbled Clint Dempsey's strike which trickled into the net to seal a 1-1 draw with the US.
Fast-forward one year later to the women's World Cup and Karen Bardsley's first-half error on Tuesday in the opening game saw a freak long-range effort from Mexico's Monica Ocampo fly past her.
Powell - whose side next plays New Zealand in Dresden on Friday - admitted Bardsley could have done better.
"It was disappointing to concede the goal," said the England coach.
"I need to see it again, it did look like it shifted, but I am disappointed she didn't save it.
"It gave them confidence and they were on the back foot quite a bit at the time, so when you score it gives you some belief.
"You have to give credit to the strike, but Karen is very disappointed that she didn't get there."
Ocampo was well outside the England penalty area when she hit her long-range effort which curled up skywards before dropping down into the top left hand-corner of the England net on 33 minutes.
"It's not something that I trained to do, it just came from the flow of the game. Thank God it went in and it put us back in the game," said woman-of-the-match Ocampo.
"It is special because it is a World Cup goal, I am really proud to have scored it."
The freak strike was enough to share the points after England midfielder Fara Williams' header had put England ahead on 21 minutes.
"The players are disappointed, but if they weren't, I would be worried," said Powell.
"In the first half, it felt like we dominated. It was quite warm out there and as Mexico grew in confidence, we had to defend more.
"When you are defending, it is draining, so yes, we were tiring at the end."
Powell's disappointment was balanced by Mexico coach Leonardo Cuellar's delight as his country earned its first point at a women's World Cup.
Mexico's only previous World Cup appearance was in 1999 when it was beaten by Brazil, Germany and Italy.
"It is a big day in Mexican football and this shows we can come back and compete," said Cuellar whose side faces Group B leader Japan in Leverkusen on Friday.
"We got in trouble by losing too many balls and it took us a few more minutes to collect ourselves on the field. I liked the end, they had their chances so did we.
"But we haven't achieved any goals yet so we will have to work very hard to prepare for the game against Japan."
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