VAR saves US, England fall down before World Cup final

LYON, France -- With Ellen White's second goal ruled off by the VAR and Steph Houghton's penalty saved, England lost 2-1 here on Tuesday and sent the United States into their fifth FIFA Women's World Cup final.

The Lionesses were down to 10 players in the 86th minute after Millie Bright, who flied to a frustrated challenge on Alex Morgan with her foot over the ball before catching the US captain, was sent off on a second yellow.

White, who scored England's first goal before the interval, could have equalized it again after taking a touch on Jill Scott's through and slotting it in on 67 minute, but a quick VAR review disallowed it for one-foot offside.

It's also the VAR, however, that awarded England a penalty at 83 after White claimed that Becky Sauerbrunn caught her on the back of her foot inside the box before she's half step late for a shot.

Brazilian referee Edina Alves Batista spent a long time looking at the footage on the monitor and came back to point to the spot.

Skipper Steph Houghton stepped up as Nikita Parris had missed England's last two penalties. She aimed it low towards the bottom corner, but the US goalie Alyssa Naeher went the right way and caught the ball.

In the first half, White's goal canceled the US's early lead through Christen Press, but birthday girl Morgan's header at half-hour mark again put the defending champions ahead.

The three-time title holders opened the scoring just 10 minutes into the semifinal after a brilliant through ball from Tobin Heath picked out Kelley O'Hara down the right wing and the latter put a deep cross into the box.

Press, who started in the place of the Americans' co-captain Megan Rapinoe, rose at the back post to fire her header into the back of England's net.

With Press' goal, the US have scored in the first 12 minutes of every game they've played so far in this World Cup.

England, however, equalized through their first real attack just nine minutes later when Beth Mead crossed it into the box ahead of all the defenders and White just had to tap the ball past Alyssa Naeher and over the line.

It was not until one minute past the half-hour mark that the US reclaimed the lead as Lindsey Horan chipped her cross into the middle of the box and Morgan headed in her sixth goal of the tournament.

The 30-year-old Morgan thus became the first player in the Women's World Cup history to score a goal on her birthday and shared the pole position with White on the top scorer leaderboard.

Rapinoe, who started in four of the US's first five games, was not in the starting lineup for Tuesday's semifinal. She netted two goals against France in their 2-1 quarterfinal victory last Friday.

With Tuesday's victory, the US, who lifted trophy of the quadrennial event in 1991, 1999 and 2015, reached the final for the third consecutive World Cup and will have to wait until Wednesday to find out if they will be facing Netherlands or Sweden.

England were knocked out at the semifinals for the second tournament in a row but have the opportunity to finish third again in the play-off match in Nice on Saturday.