ENGLAND BEATEN IN WORST THE WAY

This will be one of those moments people point to through the ages. It was a disaster at the highest level of sports – dramatic, decisive and unfortunate.

England’s best Women’s World Cup team fell 2-1 to Japan on Wednesday night in Edmonton, Alberta, and fell hard. England wound up scoring Japan’s winning goal.

In soccer, it’s called an own goal – when a player puts the ball into the wrong net. It usually occurs when a player tries to play the ball back to the keeper and strikes it a little too efficiently.

That’s why we will always remember Laura Bassett, the English player who did exactly that. The game was in stoppage time and Bassett intercepted a cross by Japan with her right foot. The deflection went right to the goal and caught the upper crossbar. The keeper never had a chance, and neither did England.

Bassett was, understandably, inconsolable afterwards. Japan advances to the Women’s World Cup final against the United States on Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia and England will play Saturday against Germany in the third-place game.

It brought to mind an event in the men’s tournament in 1994. Andres Escobar of Colombia scored an own goal in a match against the U.S. during the group stages, putting the ball into his own net while playing a cross.

The Colombians were ultimately eliminated from the tournament because of the loss, and Escobar was killed days after returning home. It has always been believed that his death was related to the heavy losses numerous gambling syndicates took when the team was eliminated.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .