First goal wins? Canada's quarterfinal battle with England should be tight and tense

VANCOUVER – If the action on the field comes close to approaching the intensity of the pregame chatter, Saturday's Women's World Cup quarterfinal between Canada and England at B.C. Place should be a thriller.

Already expected to be a tight and tense contest between two nations very familiar with each other, England's coach Mark Sampson stoked the fire with some light-hearted jabs on Canadian coach John Herdman's attire choice of "tight shirts and Ray-Bans," and followed up with some more serious hooks at Herdman's team.

"Without a shadow of a doubt we're playing the most aggressive team in this tournament," Sampson was quoted as saying in the The Guardian. "We've got a qualified referee on our staff and, looking back at the games, he says at least quadruple the number of fouls they've actually been penalized for could have been awarded against them. I hope the match referee realizes there's 22 players and two teams on the pitch."

Herdman's response to his counterpart's incendiary claim was rather blunt: Canada won't back down.

"We're just looking forward to getting out there and giving England hell. It's going to be an aggressive, physical game," said Herdman at a press conference Friday.

That should come as no surprise, given how both teams have failed to inspire in attack. England lost their opening match against France 1-0 but have rebounded to win their next three games all by 2-1 scorelines while Canada has scored three times and conceded just once in four games on their way to two wins and two draws.

Canada's defensive spine of goalkeeper Erin McLeod, centre back Kadeisa Buchanan, and defensive midfielder Desiree Scott have been the team's standout performers so far at the World Cup. For the eighth-ranked Canadians to take down No. 6 England, it will take another strong showing from the aformentioned trio and a creative player like Christine Sinclair or Sophie Schmidt to rise to the occasion and provide the goal that sees Canada through.

"The team is ready. We're ready for this game. We know it will be a close game, 1-0, but that's how we win games," defender Rhian Wilkinson said in French.

That's been Canada's formula for success for awhile now, and it's gotten them to the precipice of the sport's biggest stage. Finishing the job won't be easy, but this is what they've been working for since way before the tournament kicked off.

"This game doesn't need any more fuel, passion," said Herdman. "We're there, two games away from the final. A couple of opponents in our way. Let's do it."

After a few days of spirited speech from both sides, the last word will likely go to the team that scores first on Saturday. With a spot in the semifinals at stake and an expected crowd of over 50,000, it's guaranteed to be loud.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr