England 2, Japan 0

England did not tempt fate and decided to take care of business themselves, defeating Japan 2-0 in their final group stage match. England are through to the quarterfinals, placing first in Group B play. They will await the result of the Germany-France match, as will Japan who finished second in Group B.

While England could have played conservative, as a tie would have been good enough going in, they played attacking soccer and looked better than they had in their two previous matches. Hope Powell inserted four different players into the starting lineup...Ellen White, Anita Asante, Sophie Bradley, and Jess Clarke.

Japan took the first shot of the day, but Kozue Ando's shot from distance was right at Karen Bardsley and the English keeper had no problem with it.

England struck in the 15th minute as Karen Carney struck a long ball up the middle from just on the English side of center. The ball split two Japanese defenders, Saki Kumagai and Aya Sameshima, as did Ellen White. White ran onto the bouncer and chipped a lob over Ayumi Kaihori, who got caught off her line. The ball went into the upper right corner of the net, as Kaihori was unable to do anything about it. England 1, Japan 0.

In the 35th minute, Japan was awarded a free kick. Japan caught England napping, with Miyama taking a quick short ball out to Yukari Kinga on the right wing. She hit a dangerous cross into the box, but Alex Scott just barely beat Ando to the header and English defender Sophie Bradley cleared the ball out of trouble just in the nick of time.

Two minutes later, Jill Scott stole the ball from Sameshima, but could only take a weak shot right at Kaihori. Then in the 38th minute, Jess Clarke's cross from the left side found Ellen White in the center of the box. White's bicycle kick nearly looped over Kaihori, but the Japanese goalkeeper made a great recovery, tipping the ball over the net at the last possible moment.

Japan came right back in the 40th minute. Karen Bardsley came out to punch the ball away from the goal on a Japanese cross, but the ball went right to Kinga. With Bardsley on the ground, Kinga had a golden opportunity, but her drive from 15 yards went well over the crossbar. It may have been Japan's best opportunity of the day and the game went into halftime with England leading 1-0.

England subbed in Rachel Yankey for Jess Clarke at the half and that move turned out to be fortuitious for England.

However, as the half started, Japan appeared to take over the initiative. Aya Miyama's free kick in the 49th minute was placed beautifully over the English defense, but Yuki Nagasato's sliding effort went wide of the post. In the 61st minute, Miyama's corner found Kinga 22 yards out in front of the goal, but her blast was blocked by Rachel Unitt. It appeared that it was only a matter of time before Japan might draw even.

But England would be the team to get the next goal. Unitt crossed the ball from the left side, with Rachel Yankey cutting in front to deflect the ball to the left side of the six yard box. Kaihori attempted to come out to block, but Yankey beat her to the ball and hit a clean shot over Kaihori to put England up 2-0.

In the 79th minute, Karen Bardsley twice came up big, punching out Japanese crosses on consecutive plays within seconds of each other. Bardsley was heading for her first shutout in World Cup play.

Japan would have two more opportunities in the closing moments. Azusa Iwashimizu's shot went wide of the right post in the 89th minute and then Nahomi Kawasumi's effort from 10 yards went over the crossbar in stoppage.

England had gotten the job done on this day. Hope Powell seemed to be pushing all the right buttons today and her decision to start White and sub in Yankey both proved to be excellent moves. England was able to shake off two rather average efforts to play a good match when they needed to. Alex Scott had a very strong match and the English defense as a whole quieted some of their detractors with a solid effort.

As for Japan, they played well, but throughout the match, they seemed to want to make the extra pass, often losing possession before getting a shot off. Their defense showed a few holes as well, which will cause them problems against either Germany or France, whichever turns out to be their quarterfinal foe.

England wins the group with seven points, with Japan finishing second with six points. Both England and Japan will play their quarterfinal matches on Saturday with their opponents to be determined later today.

England 2, New Zealand 1

England came from behind to edge a game New Zealand team by a 2-1 margin. It was the first come-from-behind victory of the 2011 World Cup and it put England in control of their own destiny as far as advancing to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, it erased any possibility of New Zealand making the quarters.

England got the first good chance of the match in the 12th minute. Ellen White stole the ball from Rebecca Smith and dribbled toward the goal, but Abby Erceg was able to block White's shot. A minute later, a 30-yard effort from Fara Williams was saved by Bindon.

But it was New Zealand that would draw first blood in the 18th minute. Ali Riley sent the ball into space deep on the left side and Amber Hearn was the first to track it down. Hearn crossed the ball from the left side, just shy of the end line. Sarah Gregorius was able to work her way between Casey Stoney and Rachel Unitt to somehow get her foot on the ball and put it by English keeper Karen Bardsley. A stunned English team had watched the Ferns take a one nil lead.

New Zealand probably should have been up by two in the 38th minute. A beautiful was sent through to Gregorius, who had a four yard lead on the nearest defender. Unfortunately, she made a bit of a mess of the dribble, allowing Rachel Unitt to catch up to her and defend her just before she could release a good shot.

In the 44th minute, England threatened but Kelly Smith's shot was deflected by a defender and Bindon easily covered on the play.

New Zealand came close again to start the 2nd half. Gregorius crossed the ball from the right side to Hearn whose header went mere inches over the bar and landed on top of the netting. England had to feel quite lucky not to be down by two or three goals at that point.

England starting to gain mementum after the 60th minute. Finally, Alex Scott's cross from the right side was perfect for Jill Scott, who easily skied over the defender and headed the ball into the upper left corner of the net. England had drawn even and New Zealand had to be kicking themselves for the missed opportunities.

England continued to pressure in next few minutes. Another Alex Scott cross led to another Jill Scott header. Ferns' goalkeeper Jenny Bindon made the saved, bobbled the ball a bit, but was able to secure it just ahead of Ellen White who was making a run at the goal. A minute later, a Kelly Smith shot was deflected just wide right of the goal.

New Zealand regained the momentum as the game moved into the final 20 minutes. Ali Riley's cross was just behind Rosie White, who had perhaps gotten in too close to the goal. White couldn't quite get her foot solidly on the ball and another chance slipped away.

England seemed determined to get the winner in the 80th minute, but Bindon made a diving save on Ellen White's shot from 12 yards to keep her team even.

However, in the 81st minute, Rachel Unitt sent a long ball into the box. Bindon came out to attempt to punch the ball away, but didn't get enough to clear it out of trouble. The ball came to Jill Scott, who touched the ball across to second half substitute Jess Clarke and she made no mistake on her finish. For the first time of the day, England held the advantage.

Bindon kept her team close with a fantastic kick save on Fara Williams in the 88th minute. Williams' low shot from 18 yards out appeared to be headed just inside the right post, but Bindon kicked her left leg out just in time to deflect the ball away from the net. England was able to waste away the final minutes and hold on for the victory.

For England, it was a great comeback win when it looked like they were in deep trouble in this match. They now have the inside track on the second position out of Group B and could win it if they are victorious over Japan on Tuesday.

Sadly, New Zealand has been eliminated from any chance of the quarterfinals. They have put forth two solid efforts against very good teams and came away empty. They can somewhat play the role of spoiler against Mexico, who still is in the running for the quarterfinals.

England 2, United States 1

For the third time in the last five months, the United States tasted defeat as England executed a dominating first half performance to a 2-1 victory. Jess Clarke and Rachel Yankey scored for England.

For the first 35 minutes of the match, England thoroughly controlled possession and scoring chances, as the United States rarely threatened. The middle three of England's 4-3-3 formation, Kelly Smith, Jill Scott, and Fara Williams clearly outplayed their counterparts during the opening half.

England struck first just eight minutes into the match. Rachel Yankey outfought Ali Krieger for a ball on the left side of the box and crossed to the middle where Jess Clarke finished past Nicole Barnhart, with a bit of an assist from Kelly Smith who did a nice job of screening Amy LePeilbet away from the ball. England was up 1-0 and the game had just barely begun.

England made it 2-0 before the half hour. On a counterattack, Kelly Smith found wide open spaces between the US midfield and back line. She dribbled for a long stretch to the top of the box, where three defenders converged on her. She deftly passed the ball outside left to a wide open Rachel Yankey. Yankey hit a beautiful finish, high and inside the right side netting.

England had other golden opportunities and barely missed on a couple of free kick opportunities, with Fara Williams hitting the crossbar on one and Kelly Smith bending another just inches wide. The US were quite fortunate to only be down by two goals at the 35 minute mark.

But against the run of play in the 39th minute, Megan Rapinoe received the ball toward the left side just past center, dribbled to the middle unchallenged and let go a low shot from 22 yards that beat English keeper Karen Bardsley just inside the left post.

Pia Sundhage made two substitutions at the half, sending Stephanie Cox in for Amy LePeilbet, who was making an uncharacteristic start at left back and looked none too comfortable doing so. The other sub was Hope Solo, seeing her first action in eight months, in for Barnhart. Solo did make a nice sliding save early in the 2nd half, but was relatively unchallenged otherwise.

The early part of the 2nd half was a bit more evenly played than the first, but the US was still unable to manufacture any scoring chances. Three more substitutions followed, with Lauren Cheney coming on for Abby Wambach in the 62nd minute, Alex Morgan subbing for Amy Rodriguez in the 70th, and Tobin Heath in for Megan Rapinoe also in the 70th. Wambach still did not look 100% with a heel injury that's been bothering her for several months.

The substitutions seem to breathe life into the US side and the chances started coming, even though the goals did not. The best chance may have been in the 71st minute when Rachel Unitt just handed the ball to Heather O'Reilly who had clean breakaway only to send the ball wide of the left post as an onrushing Bardsley forced the shot.

England had one of her best chances just a minute later as Kelly Smith got behind the American defense. Smith, who played a very strong match, hit an unusually weak shot that rolled wide, much to the relief of the US team.

Hope Powell made two second half substitutions, Sophie Bradley for Faye White, who appeared injured as she came off, and Karen Carney for Yankey.

Alex Morgan, who has been the US spark as of late, had as many as four chances in the last 20 minutes, but just couldn't find the net. In the 76th, Carli Lloyd hit a hard shot that was saved by Bardsley with the rebound falling to Morgan, but she just couldn't get a good shot off. In the 80th minute, she received a brilliant long pass from O'Reilly, chested the ball down, but her shot sailed just wide of English goal.

In another instance, the ball rolled just past Bardsley at the top of the box in traffic, but Morgan was knocked off balance as she went by and was unable to take advantage. It was Morgan again in the 86th minute sending a hard shot wide left of the goal.

The final chance for the US came in stoppage as a hard Carli Lloyd shot was blocked by Unitt. The United States had finally run out of time and the final score stood at England 2, United States 1.

For England, Kelly Smith had her usual strong match, as did Rachel Yankey and Fara Williams. In fact, the entire English midfield played very well and their forwards were active for the first three quarters of the match. Yankey and young Ellen White kept the US defense back on their heels for much of the match. The English back line made strong flank runs early, especially Alex Scott, and were just good enough defensively to preserve the win. Bardsley was solid in goal.

For the US, Heath, Cheney and Morgan gave the team energy and Heather O'Reilly played a strong second half. Megan Rapinoe was also very active early on. The US defense looked uncomfortable and a bit overmatched at times, before settling down as the 2nd half wore on. They often faced superior numbers as England was able to exploit the huge gaps between the US midfield and back line.

The United States will train in Scotland for a few days before returning home. Their next action will be a pair of matches against Japan in May.