England’s U-17 Women’s team made it to the semifinals of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Dominican Republic 2024 after a thrilling quarterfinal match against Japan. The game ended 2-2 in regulation time, but England took the win with a 4-1 penalty shootout ¹.
This was England’s second time reaching the semifinals, and they did it in style, with goals from Erica Parkinson and Zara Shaw canceling out Japan’s scores from Yuna Aoki and Hina Hirakawa ¹. The real hero of the match was reserve goalkeeper Rebekah Dowsett, who came in during the final minutes and saved two crucial penalties to secure England’s win ¹.
England will now face Spain in the semifinals, who dominated Ecuador 5-0 in their quarterfinal match, thanks to a hat-trick from Pau Comendador ¹.