In the world of football 12 years is an eternity. Most players are lucky if their careers last that long, but that is the length of time since the England Women's team last played at a World Cup.

This year they returned to the pinnacle of international football, to the stage where the likes of Kelly Smith, Karen Carney and Faye White could show everyone just what England has to offer.

On 11 September they were ready to begin, England's players and coaches had finally reached the tournament they longed to play in. Prior to the game Kelly Smith admitted that she had dreamed about playing in a World Cup all her life and when the whistle blew she looked like a player born to play in this arena.

Despite conceding first from a deflected free kick, England, and Kelly Smith, hit back. Two goals in two minutes from Smith in the final stages looked to have given England three points, she even removed her boots in jubilation, but Japan had the final say with another free kick from Miyama five minutes into injury time to level it up.

Next up was the small matter of the reigning champions Germany who had begun the tournament with a crushing 11-0 win over Argentina. But something was very noticeable when talking to various players in the squad - they believed they could beat the best.

Showing all the elements that are recognisable in great English sides; grit, determination and hunger, the Three Lions more than matched Silvia Neid's side earning a draw that put them in prime position to escape the group and reach the quarter finals.

It would of course mean nothing if England failed to win against Argentina, who had recovered significantly from their opening day disaster to lose out to Japan by a single strike two minutes into injury time.

But England were not about to let slip the chance to reach the World Cup quarter finals.

Bursting out of the traps England were two goals up inside ten minutes, first Casey Stoney's cross was headed into the net by Argentina captain Eva Gonzalez, before Jill Scott grabbed her first goal for her country to double the advantage.

After the break Kelly Smith earned a penalty that was dispatched by Fara Williams, and three more goals were to follow after Eva Gonzalez had made amends for her own goal by scoring past Rachel Brown from a free kick.

Smith scored twice, taking her tally to four for the tournament, and Vicky Exley came off the bench to make it 6-1 and an emphatic victory for the Three Lions.

Having held the World and European Champions Germany in the group stage, England were now faced with the unenviable task of taking on the team ranked number one in the world – Greg Ryan’s USA.

Katie Chapman returned from suspension having missed the victory over Argentina, but Fara Williams was forced to watch from the sidelines after picking up a second booking of the competition in the final game of Group A.

For the biggest challenge Hope Powell’s players have faced, the stage was set; facing the world number one in the fantastic Tianjin Olympic Stadium, in front of a huge television audience at home with the match screened live on BBC1.

For almost an hour England more than matched their stateside opponents, but in 13 second half minutes their dreams were dashed in cruel fashion.

Abby Wambach stole in at the far post to head America into the lead before goals from Shannon Boxx and the veteran of all five World Cups Kristine Lilly put the game beyond the Three Lions.

Against all odds Mo Marley's U19s reached the European Championship Final in Iceland, the first final any England Women's team have reached, and also secured qualification for the U20 World Championship in Chile next December.

While it was a great year for the current England side, it was also a fantastic one for England’s future as Mo Marley took the U19s to the European Championship Final.

As ever on the international stage it was Germany who stood in the way of glory, and despite taking the reigning champions all the way to extra time England ultimately came up short in the final in Reykjavik.

Goals from Nathalie Bock and Monique Kerschowski secured the 2-0 victory, but the winning goals were not struck until the second period of extra time due to some defiant defending that held off England's much fancied opponents for more than 100 minutes.

Marley was pleased with the performance in reaching the final stage of a campaign that included six qualifying in first Estonia then Austria, and five finals matches in Iceland last month.

"It's a foundation and now the bar has been raised and hopefully there are more finals to come," Marley admitted.

"Obviously we're disappointed to lose in the manner we did but that's the fine line between winning competitions and not.

"We were resilient, we were hard but I don't think we had enough quality to win the game - you have to have that extra bit of quality and Germany had that today. From now we'll start preparing for [the World Cup in] Chile."