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• Email scott.murray@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Full coverage of the World Cup is here 17 min: Deville has been a bit shaky so far, but here she handles a Carney cross from the left brilliantly, with Ellen White and Yankey lurking in the middle. 14 min: France are enjoying the lion’s share of possession here. Abily is seeing a lot of the ball; she swings a deep cross into the area that’s only just over the head of Thiney. It’s an open game, this, though it’s yet to take off. Incidents, please! 11 min: England’s first serious jaunt upfield since the first 15 seconds results in a corner down the left, after good work from Kelly Smith. The ball’s hung above Deville’s six-yard box, the keeper flapping hopelessly under pressure from Smith and Faye White, but the referee’s convinced she’s been blocked off, and the danger’s over. 8 min: France are turning up the heat a wee bit here. Lepailleur and Abily combine down the right to win a corner. But the set piece is hoicked straight out of play on the far side. “The odd thing about the Lyon connection is that France have left their best goalkeeper and Lyon No1 Sara Bouhaddi, at home,” notes Curtis in Minnesota, the only MBM contributor in Guardian history to sound like they could have been released on the Stax label in the late 1960s. 5 min: Williams is booked for a ludicrous late lunge on Thiney. She protests her innocence, but it’s a no-brainer for the referee. 3 min: After a shaky start, France get their foot on the ball, and stroke it around the middle awhile. Suddenly Abily cuts inside from the right, and lashes an optimistic effort goalwards from 35 yards. Some respect, please! Having said that, it nearly hits the target, only just clearing the bar, but it’s right in the middle of the goal and Bardsley is behind it all the way. 1 min: The corner’s wasted. “Recalling White might make for an entertaining game,” suggests Sören Kaschke. “I seem to remember the player with the captain’s band (must have been White) almost begging the referee in the first two games to award the opponent a penalty; unsuccessfully, but I wouldn’t count on the refs, especially after the flak they seemed to have got after some less than convincing displays in the group stage, to constantly turn a blind eye to White’s peculiar understanding of acceptable behaviour for defending in your own area.” We’re off… and what a start! Within 15 seconds, Kelly Smith rounds keeper Deville on the edge of the area, having been sent clear from a sleeping French defence by Carney, and strokes the ball goalwards. The effort’s on target, but there’s no oomph behind the shot, and Georges sticks a foot out to deflect away for a corner. Blimey. Pennants are exchanged. The one Faye White receives from her counterpart Sandrine Soubeyrand is massive . It’s like a bedspread. France win the toss, and elect to stay kicking away from the boxed monstrosity at the south end of the stadium, perhaps because they can’t bear to look at it. England will kick off. The teams are out: France are listening to their lovely anthem. It is beautiful. Best not to mention the English one, there’s no point being needlessly negative. “Lyon have ten players in the full squad, but also six in the starting lineup,” notes a slightly concerned, or possibly not, who knows, Phillipa Booth. “The goalkeeper Deville has just transferred there from Montpellier. The whole squad is made up of only four teams: the others are Montpellier, PSG and Juvisy. These are the top four in the league last season.” Referee: Jenny Palmqvist (Sweden) England Ladies (note the recalled Faye White, Bradley dropping down to the bench): Bardsley, Alex Scott, Stoney, Faye White, Unitt, Carney, Jill Scott, Williams, Yankey, Smith, Ellen White. Subs: Brown, Chamberlain, Clarke, Aluko, Bradley, Houghton, Bassett, Asante, Susi, Rafferty. France Ladies: Deville, Viguier, Georges, Lepailleur, Soubeyrand, Bompastor, Abily, Necib, Bussaglia, Thiney, Delie. Subs: Philippe, Renard, Boulleau, Meilleroux, Franco, Le Sommer, Thomis, Pizzala, Bretigny. Kick-off: 5pm in the British money. The venue: Bayer Leverkusen’s BayArena. As for France? Their squad boasts ten players from Lyon, who won the Women’s Champions League this year. Ulp. Midfielder Camile Abily is their main draw, though Louisa Necib, causing all sorts of bother just behind the strikers, has been the one to watch so far. “They’re a very good side technically and difficult to play against, and after the 2007 World Cup they’ll want revenge,” says midfielder Fara Williams. It is ON! France are up first, though. England denied the French a trip to the 2007 World Cup in a qualifying play-off, for all that means. They’re coming into form after a shaky start against Mexico: following that draw, they came from behind to beat New Zealand, and were excellent in the win over Japan. Midfielder Jill Scott and striker Ellen White have been the stars of the show, while keeper Karen Bardsley, criticised for conceding from distance against Mexico, reasserted her quality with a storming display against the Japanese. Powell has one huge problem, though: recall captain Faye White, rested against Japan, or retain her replacement, the quicker and more mobile Sophie Bradley, who was superb in that match. Anyway, so here we are, ahead of arguably England’s biggest game in their history. Would a first-ever semi-final berth in the World Cup be a bigger deal than reaching the final of the Euros in 2009? It’s a moot point, but consider: if Hope Powell’s side make the Mönchengladbach semi against either Brazil or the USA – two of the sport’s powerhouses – expect World Cup fever to sweep the nation next week. You wait and see. Hats off to the BBC, then, for finally seeing sense and putting the big game on proper telly, in place of 1970s sitcom Porridge and absurd time-frittering antique show Flog It. That they even had to think about it, though. Dear God. Eleven years into the new millennium and all. Women’s World Cup 2011 Women’s football Scott Murray guardian.co.uk