Bronze's golden strike pushes England over Norway, sets up quarterfinal date with Canada

Lucy Bronze was pure gold on Monday in Ottawa, and her goal that pushed England to a victory over Norway was so good that it made up for the terrible nature of that pun - and the multitude of others made in the immediate aftermath of the strike.

The English defender blasted home a contender for goal of the tournament in the 76th minute of the Three Lionesses' Round of 16 match against the Norwegians, helping her side reach the quarterfinals by virtue of a 2-1 comeback win on a blistering afternoon in the Canadian capital.

The win, which seemed like an impossibility after a dominant opening half from Norway, gives England their first-ever knockout round win at the Women's World Cup, and sets up a tantalizing quarterfinal match with host nation Canada (and a week's worth of narrative to go with it).

After an hour of play, it looked as though Mark Sampson's team would be watching the remainder of the competition from their respective couches on the other side of the Atlantic.

Such was the dominance of Norway, which - while far more pronounced in the opening half - was finally rewarded early in the second stanza.

Solveig Gulbrandsen opened the scoring in the 52nd minute, getting onto the end of a corner kick and showing terrific ingenuity to flick a header at the front post, sending it off the underside of the crossbar and across the line.

After Norway dominated the opening half and got the goal that their performance deserved, the Three Lionesses looked all but done.

So much for that.

Captain Steph Houghton answered Gulbrandsen with a headed goal of her own in the 61st minute, physically dominating two defenders from a corner kick and getting up to power a perfect header off the far post and in.

(Courtesy: England)

The goal buoyed Sampson's side, who began to put together some slick passing in the aftermath of the equaliser, pinning Norway into their own half of the pitch for extended periods.

Momentum is a tricky word, and difficult to quantify, but England was certainly in the ascendancy after knotting the match at one apiece, and they made that dominance count in the 76th minute.

Bronze, one of the best player's on the pitch throughout the match, capped off her performance with a thunderous effort from just outside the area that was hit with such pace that Norwegian goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth could not keep it out, despite getting a hand to it.

Some resolute defending, combined with some impressive time-wasting skills from Jill Scott in the latter minutes, helped get England to the final whistle, setting up a meeting with Canada on June 27 in Vancouver.