England reached the Women’s World Cup semifinals for the first time when it beat Canada on Saturday night, and its players were quick to label the victory a turning point for what they hope will be a continued focus on the game at home.
“We always said that we had one aim when we came,” the England captain Steph Houghton said after Saturday’s 2-1 victory. “It was to inspire a nation, and if the mums and dads have let their young girls watch the game late in England, I think hopefully we’ve got a lot of young girls playing football at an early age, and in the next few years, we have a stronger English national team.