Our midfielder, Alex Greenwood and Chloe Kelly all featured in the success for the Lionesses who booked their place in the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament for the third successive campaign after coming from behind against the South American team.
The first half proved to be a tense and often cagey affair with chances few and far between, with set pieces for both sides producing the clearest sights on goal early on.
Our Sky Blue centre-back’s precise ability from dead balls was been a weapon Sarina Wiegman had utilised across the competition so far.
And Greenwood’s corner on 26 minutes found the feet of Georgia Stanway who dinked the ball to the back post where Rachel Daly directed her header into the grateful gloves of Catalina Pérez.
Colombia were patient in their approach and happy to soak up England pressure and they took the lead on the cusp of half-time when Leicy Santos danced down the right hand side and whipped an effort across goal which flew into the cop corner.
The lead didn’t last for long, though, as deep into stoppage time, Hemp equalised when the ball squirmed out of the palms of Perez and City’s skilful winger used her poacher’s instinct to poke home.
She was at the heart of the European champions’ strong attacking play and she was the architect of a good chance following a well worked free-kick which saw her break down the wing and lift the ball back across goal which almost found Daly before Colombia intervened.
Scoring the leveller just before the break had given England the momentum entering the second half and the European side took the lead when Alessia Russo received a pinpoint pass, broke into the box and impressively fired low into the bottom corner.
Colombia had shown their clinical side by scoring five goals before the meeting with Wiegman’s side and they pushed for an equaliser with 20 minutes remaining.
And they would have grabbed it had it not been for Mary Earps’ brilliance who tipped Lorena Bedoya venomous effort from range over the bar.
In front of an impressive 75,784 fans, the Lionesses survived an onslaught from Nelson Abadía’s team who continued to probe but couldn’t find their second goal
England will next face Australia in the semi-final of the World Cup on Wednesday 16 August, with kick-off scheduled for 11:00 (UK).
Stay close to mancity.com and the official Man City app for a City-centric report as our Lionesses contingent face clubmates Alanna Kennedy and Mary Fowler‘s Matildas face on the grandest stage.
