Three shots on target during the Japan-England game, two of which were pens.
The game was indicative of the tournament as a whole - a poor standard in terms of technical and tactical quality.
There was s shot 6 inches wide In the first 30 seconds, two chances that didn't go In off the bar.Then the pen was scored as well as any Lampard or Gerrard effort, two goog shots we'll saved and a header that went less than a foot wide.
Obviously Women V Men Is no contest but V each other It's all relative. There are three or four teams that have Quality and others who can be effective over a game or two. The Japanese are one,, very much In the Barca Style,.
After us starting well they hit their purple patch around 15-20 In, this only lasted 15-20 mins We were dominant In the second half and so unfortunate not to Score.
Finally they got lucky cos we were still going for it in the 89 minute even then the clearance went In off the bar not out. The other teams who excel are France then come USA and Germany who Ithink we are on a par with, both of those rely on an aggressive Physical approach which seems to be more tolerated In the big Competitions of the Women's stage
During qualification I thought we'd gone away from a fairly safe dour style under Hope Powell where they played with freedom, expressed themselves and scored hateful under Mark Sampson.
Australia also deserve a distinction for their game against the USA totally absorbing energy driven Sublime passing game there. Finally this all against the backdrop of playing on Inconsistent artificial pitches.
Didn't watch It all but what I did was entertaining, If nothing else check out the USA goalie Hope Solo!!