Football: England dump Canada out of World Cup

England's Jodie Taylor, left, and Jill Scott celebrate Taylor's goal against Canada during the first half in a quarterfinal of the Women's World Cup soccer tournament. Photo / AP.

Early goals from Jodie Taylor and Lucy Bronze gave England their first semi-final berth at a Women's World Cup with a 2-1 victory on Saturday to dump hosts Canada out of the tournament.

The enthusiastic cheers from the 54,000 crowd of largely Canadian flag-waving supporters in BC Place Stadium were silenced early when the hosts were two goals down after just 14 minutes.

'The Three Lionesses', who lost their opening group game to France, were gifted the opener after 11 minutes following a howler by defender Lauren Sesselmann who proved to be the weak link in Canada's backline.

The 23-year-old swiped at the ball, missed and fell over, allowing Taylor to pounce and race towards goal past the onrushing Canadian defenders to finish off.

Just three minutes later, the hosts were in disarray as Bronze headed in a second, with the stunned Canadian players immediately gathering into a huddle to try to regroup.

But captain Christine Sinclair pulled one back three minutes before the break following a blunder by Karen Bardsley in the England goal.

Ashley Lawrence fired towards the near post, but Bardsley let the ball out of her grasp into the path of Sinclair, Canada's all-time leading scorer, who made no mistake firing in her 155th international goal.

Bardsley was replaced five minutes following the break after her eye started swelling by Siobhan Chamberlain for the first time in the England goal at the World Cup.

Forward Melissa Tancredi looked set to equalise for Canada on 62 minutes but lost time as she hesitated on front of goal before the ball was cleared.

And there were groans of despair from the crowd as Sophie Schmidt sent over on front of goal seven minutes from time.

England next play holders Japan in Wednesday's semi-final in Edmonton, after the defending champions beat Australia 1-0 earlier in the Commonwealth Stadium.

Former two-time winners Germany and the United States play the second semi-final on Tuesday in Ottawa.

-AAP