The third-place match is usually the most-criticized game of any World Cup, women or men. The argument: Why make the semifinal losers stick around for another game, when third place isn’t regarded as that big a deal in World Cups? But, England’s win over Germany showed us the other side of the debate; that the game can mean a heck of a lot to the players involved...

The Sophie Schmidt show was good enough to beat England. She scored a fantastic goal from just outside the penalty area, had a free kick fly just inches over the bar, and had a good attempt off a short-corner set piece.

It used to be that a match against the English was pretty well in the territory of “automatic win” for Canada. But the English beat the Canadians in the Cyprus Cup final and dominated Sunday’s friendly. That’s right — dominated.