Since Wednesday, 12 nations have been competing at venues in Nicosia and Larnaca for the right to be crowned champions at the Cyprus Women’s Cup 2014.
Now the stage is set for defending champions England and France to compete in Wednesday’s final.
The competition started in fine style for England and last year’s losing finalists Canada.
Mark Sampson, in his first tournament as England coach, saw his team open with a 2-0 victory over Italy, whilst group minnows Finland were no match for the Canadians, who romped to a 3-0 win.
All four other opening-day fixtures were drawn, putting England in a strong position from the off.
It was on Matchday 2 when the tournament action really began to heat up, however.
Per BBC Sport, Scotland’s Lisa Evans’ phenomenal 18-minute hat-trick put them on the road to victory over the Netherlands.
Renee Siegers and Lieke Martens had the Dutch back in it before half-time, but Jenny Beattie’s fourth on 55 tipped the balance back in favour of the Scots.
There was still time for Manon Melis to grab a third, but Scotland held on in the seven-goal thriller.
Australia and France shared five goals between them, but Canadian and English dominance was noticeable.
Anita Asante, Gemma Bonner and Eniola Aluko were on target as England again won convincingly, this time against bottom-of-the-group Finland.
Another two-goal victory, this time over the fancied Canadians, leaves Sampson surely fancying his team’s chances in the tournament. The defending champions have played some sparkling football over their three games and go into the final unbeaten and yet to concede.
