Women's World Cup: England 'can make history' against Canada

Captain Steph Houghton says underdogs England "can make history again" when they take on hosts Canada in their World Cup quarter-final in Vancouver.

The Lionesses reached the last eight after beating Norway 2-1 - their first win in a World Cup knockout match.

They now face the side they beat 1-0 in March's Cyprus Cup final but lost to in a pre-World Cup friendly.

"We'll probably be underdogs, but we've already shown in this tournament we can play under pressure," Houghton said.

"That's what we did against Norway - we knew we could make history and we've done it, now we can do it again on Saturday," added the 27-year-old.

Houghton's second-half equaliser against Norway came before Lucy Bronze smashed in a stunning winner.

England head coach Mark Sampson described Bronze as having the "potential to be the best right-back in the world".

"It was a relief to get back into the game," Houghton added. "But it also showed that we're a team who can grind out a result.

"That's something that in the past English teams haven't been able to do, but that's World Cup football and we might have to do it again to keep progressing."

England face a Canadian side at 00:30 BST on Sunday who are ranked eighth in the world, two places below them, and are coached by Englishman John Herdman.

The hosts, who finished top of Group A, reached the quarter-finals by beating Switzerland 1-0 at the 54,320-capacity BC Place and will face England at the same venue.

Manchester City's Houghton returned from injury to play in the friendly defeat on 30 May in Hamilton. She said having the experience of facing a partisan crowd would benefit England.

"It's going to be great to go and play the host nation in Vancouver in front of 50,000 fans," she added.

"Those are the sort of games everyone wants to play in. This squad's ready for a massive game like that and we can't wait for the challenge."

Sampson said: "Canada have got some exceptional players. They have ploughed a lot of money into their programme.

"Their players and staff have put their life on hold since 2012 for this tournament, so we're going to face a huge challenge but we are excited by it, we are ready for it."