England beat Norway, book WWC semifinals spot

England defeated Norway 3-0 at the Women's World Cup on Thursday to secure their second straight semifinal spot. 

The Lionesses pounced on the Norwegians from the onset of the match at Le Havre, and now await the winners between Friday's clash between France and the United States.

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Jill Scott scored England's first goal just three minutes in when her close-range shot took a favourable bounce off the post and into the net. 

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England added another before half-time when Ellen White slotted the ball home off of Nikita Parris' run down the right, giving her six career goals in the tournament to become the top scorer in her country's Women's World Cup history.

Lucy Bronze made it three in the 57th minute when she drilled the ball from 20 yards out with Norway goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth having little chance to stop it.

England got away with some sloppiness in defence but the Lionesses will now hope to improve on their third place from 2015.

"What you've seen tonight is that Lucy Bronze is the best player in the world, without a shadow of a doubt. There's no player like her in the world," said Neville.

"I've played fullback, but never ever to that level she's playing at."

The semifinals will be hosted in Lyon, where Bronze plays her club football for European champions Lyon.

"I've been dreaming of playing in Lyon and getting to that semifinal again, I think all that pressure and passion came out in that strike," Bronze said.

"I'm excited to be going to Lyon now. USA or France, they're going to be a top team we're going to have to raise our game another level. We're excited to head to Lyon, get some rest and watch the rest of the quarterfinals."

Parris had a chance to score from the penalty spot in the 80th minute, but Hjelmseth made an easy diving stop to her right. 

Despite Norway creating some shots in the second half, the English defence were able to extend their shutout streak to 371-minutes. The last goal they conceded game in their group stage against Scotland's Claire Emslie

Norway's manager Martin Sjogren said he expected to see future improvement as his mostly domestic-based squad get their chances to play for Europe's bigger clubs.

"We're going to build this team. Three-quarters of our team will play in the big teams in Europe. If we manage to get the best players out there in Europe, we will actually be able to compete at this level," he said.