Women's World Cup and same old story for England

Just typical that the first match I watch of England Women at the football World Cup in Canada is the match they lose that doesn't eliminate them (as many commentators immediately after the result claimed) but stalls the hope of true glory and of 32-year old coach Mark Sampson becoming Sir Mark.  Still, the Welshman will still only be 36 at the next finals if he stays in post.  At least the semi-finals is more than the men have achieved since 1990 and they might even go one better than Bobby Robson's charges and finish third, if they beat Germany.  Yet it was the same old story for England that just as the possibility that they might win the World Cup or at least reach the final, that cautious optimism is brutally snuffed out.
Many people are saying that England Women were unlucky.  This is really something I take issue with in this respect.  It was unfortunate that Lucy Bronze was forced off before the completion of the match with an unspecified injury and there were questions over the legitimacy of the Japanese penalty (the foul beginning outside the penalty box but doubts as whether it continued into it).  No blame attaches itself to Laura Bassett either, she the scorer of the freak own goal in injury time that won the match for the Japanese - had she not touched the ball it would have been a tap-in for the onrushing Japanese opponent.  Either way, a goal would have resulted.  The real blame lies with Barnett's colleagues, particularly those nominally up front.  Had England been more clinical, the own goal at the end would have been at worst an equaliser for the Japanese.  There were three glorious chances midway through the second half, a half England thoroughly dominated.  Profligacy tends to get punished and it was no different here.  England failed to ram home their advantage when on top (in counterpoint to the German men against Brazil at the World Cup last year) and paid the price.  So we must not rely on hard-luck stories - that is the language of complacency and regression, something on which England's men have fallen back far too often.  It is constructive criticism that will drive England Women forward to greater heights and their chances are far greater than that of their male counterparts.