World Cup Daily: Beckie’s bid to top the group

Manchester City F.C.

·20 June 2019

World Cup Daily: Beckie’s bid to top the group

With two wins from a possible two, the Canadian forward has already reached the knockout stage of the tournament, but faces a battle for top spot in Group E against a Netherlands side who also boast a 100% record.

The Dutch currently lead the way in Group E by virtue of having scored more goals, meaning Beckie’s Canucks need a win if they are to emerge as winners.

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Should they do so, Canada will face Japan in the last 16, whilst if they finish second then it will be either the United States or Sweden.

Whatever the result, the earliest Beckie could face a City colleague would be in the semi-final, if both Canada and England were to reach that stage.

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The Lionesses qualified as group winners after a 2-0 win over Japan, with both goals coming from new signing, Ellen White.

A clipped finish after racing onto Georgia Stanway’s cute through ball opened the scoring and she repeated the trick, latching onto Karen Carney’s pass to steer home into the bottom corner to confirm the victory.

England were made to work for the win however and afterwards, Phil Neville hailed Karen Bardsley’s performance.

"Bardsley was great," he said. "I think she was our player of the match today.

"You talk about the best keepers in the world, and we've seen some brilliant ones in this competition. She's up there in the top three for me."

England’s joy could not be matched by Scotland, who suffered an agonising exit.

Needing a win over Argentina to give themselves a chance of qualifying as one of the best ranked third-place teams, Caroline Weir’s side let a 3-0 lead slip as La Albiceleste fought back to claim a point.

To add to the Scot's misery, the equaliser came in the 95th minute via a retaken penalty, after goalkeeper Lee Alexander was judged not to have had at least part of one foot on the goal line.