Kelly Smith's iconic celebration at the 2007 Women's World Cup | OneFootball

An iconic World Cup moment that women’s football super fans will never forget – Kelly Smith scoring a brace and kissing her boots after keeping England’s competition dreams alive.

After a 12-year absence from the Women’s World Cup, England qualified for the 2007 tournament and were eventually seeded into Group A.

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However, the China-based campaign began with a fizzle rather than a bang, as the squad were held to a 0-0 draw by reigning champions, Germany.

Their second match of the group stage was against Japan, and the girls needed to pull out a win or at least find a draw against Nadeshiko.

In the 55th minute, however, England went 1-0 down after Aya Miyama scored a sensational free kick.

Luckily, with ten minutes left on the clock, Alex Scott expertly intercepted a Japanese ball and immediately passed to Karen Carney.

With the vision, the midfielder pushed the ball onto Kelly Smith, who was surrounded by a swarm of blue shirts in the box.

Despite being under pressure, the number 10 spun and pelted the ball into the back of the Japanese net.

After levelling the playing field, she celebrated by taking off her left boot and planted a series of kisses on it.

Video: Watch Kelly Smith's iconic celebration at 2007 Women's World Cup

Unbelievably three minutes later Smith did it again — this time finding home with a strike from her right foot.

Immediately after putting England ahead, the Arsenal legend stepped out of both her boots and the right was raised by Carney for the world to see.

After being surrounded by the likes of Rachel Yankey and Jill Scott, Smith was handed back her personalised Umbro boots and kissed them both in celebration.

Of course, Smith’s brace was eventually matched by another free-kick from Miyama in the dying minutes of the game.

However, the 2-2 scoreline was just enough to put England back in the game and helped them seal their quarter-final placement.

Kelly Smith finds herself in hot water with Hope Powell

Not everyone was impressed with Smith’s legendary football boot kisses.

In 2007, The Times reported that Powell had told her tailswoman to tone down her “disrespectful” celebrations.

At the time she said: “If I was a referee I would have shown her a yellow card.”

Despite the controversial moment, the Lionesses’ World Cup dreams were dashed in the next round by World Cup heavyweights, the US Women’s National Team.

The quarter-final match was held at the Tianjin Olympic Sports Centre on 22 September 2007.

Abby Wambach opened the proceedings in the 48th minute, while strikes from Shannon Boxx and Kristine Lilly sealed the deal and sent England packing.

Despite falling to a 3-0 defeat, the 2007 Women’s World Cup will always be a reminder of Smith’s generational talent, and her iconic celebration that has gone down in history.