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England will face South Korea in a knockout for a place in the World Cup quarter-final after beating China 2-0 in their final Pool B game on Thursday.

Grace Balsdon opened the scoring from a penalty corner before Giselle Ansley added another before half-time.

China tried to respond in the second half but rarely threatened as England recovered from their defeat by group winners New Zealand in their last game.

England finished second in Pool B after New Zealand later beat India 4-3.

Defeat for England would have ended their tournament but they will now play South Korea, who finished third after losing 4-1 to Spain in their final Pool C game, in Barcelona on Sunday.

England midfielder and player of the match Lily Owsley said: "I'm so happy. I said in the pre-match news conference that China were probably going to get the brunt of our performance against New Zealand.

"I didn't have any doubts before the game and I knew we would win. I think we are entertaining and we are up and running now. We considered this the start of the knockout games, so we are one down, with four to go.

"We wanted to come out hard and we knew we could. China are a good side and we knew they would be tough, they got the better of us in the Pro League so we weren't complacent and we gave them the respect they deserved.

"We are English so we are fighters and we will show that for the rest of the tournament."