by Our Sports Desk

AS ENGLAND boss Mark Sampson challenged his team to make history, the Football Association’s director of women’s football Kelly Simmons yesterday slammed the lack of a team at next year’s Olympics as a “devastating” blow for the sport.

England take their place in a World Cup semi-final for the first time in 25 years against reigning champions Japan on Wednesday. If the Lionesses can get past the 2011 winners, a final against top two in the world Germany or the United States awaits.

And the manager was upbeat about his team’s chances of an upset: “There are only four left — three of the best teams in the world and England — so we are in a place where we have only got to win two matches to make history and create a real special moment in England football’s history and a special moment for this team.

“That’s the mission: two wins, and when you put it like that, it doesn’t seem much. But it’s two wins against potentially two great opponents,” he told Sky Sports News.

But while the progress of the women’s team at the tournament in Canada has been praised for raising the profile of women’s sport their hard work could be undone by the lack of an Olympic side.

Opposition from the other home nations has scuppered plans for a Team GB in Brazil, who fear it will affect their separate status in other competitions.

But England’s success in reaching the semi-finals would have guaranteed Britain one of the European slots at the Rio 2016 Games along with Germany and France.

The creation of Team GB for the London 2012 Olympics was very much seen as a turning point for women’s football in Britain and Simmons told BBC Sport: “It’s devastating for the women’s game but I don’t think there is any way back.

“It’s a real shame, not only for the players who have worked so hard to get to the semi-finals, but also for women’s football.

“Those sorts of opportunities for coverage and profile don’t come around that often.”

However Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan came out strongly against the critique: “A significant proportion of Scotland fans have made their feelings very clear on the matter — they want to stay under the Scotland banner.

He added: “The decision that was made surrounding London 2012 was a one-off decision as London was hosting the Olympics. There was never any plan to have a permanent British team and we made that very clear, as did the Welsh and Northern Irish.”