England have qualifed for the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup after beating Nigeria 4-2 on penalties in Brisbane on Monday.
Despite Nigeria having the better of the chances throughout, the European Champions were reduced to 10 players after 87 minutes. With great support in front of 50,000 spectators after the match had finished 0-0 at the end of extra time.
England held on even though their playmaker Lauren James received a red card for a needless stamp. They however need to improve if they want to add the World Cup to their European crown.
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England will now face Colombia or Jamaica on Saturday for a place in the semi-finals.
England got off to a terrible start in the penalty shootout when Georgia Stanway fired wide, but Desire Oparanozie couldn’t take the advantage and missed with almost a similar effort.
Beth of England made no mistake in her kick but Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie again shot over the cross bar to give England an advantage they never surrendered, sealing the win when Chloe Kelly calmly converted her kick.
The Lionesses, who last year won the European Championship at a packed Wembley Stadium in London, were expected to win comfortably against the world’s 40th-ranked team.
The Nigerians, however, have shown in this World Cup that they have the needed quality to challenge any country
They shocked hosts Australia in the group stage, taking advantage of their speed in the transition to score a 3-2 win.
And they employed the same tactics against England, whose back three were regularly exposed by the Nigerian attack.
England had started the match strongly and rattled Nigeria in the opening encounter as the Lionesses found plenty of space out wide.
But it was the Nigerians who looked the most dangerous and they gave the European champions a real fight on a number of occasions.
England-born Ashleigh Plumptre had two golden chances to open the scoring, the first coming in the 16th minute when a strike from outside the box crashed into the crossbar.
A minute later she forced a fine diving save from Mary Earps.
The Nigerians had eight shots at goal in the first half, three more than England, whose best chance fell to Alessia Russo in the 23rd minute.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first, with England dominating possession but Nigeria looking the more dangerous.
England had a golden chance to seal the match with 15 minutes left only for Chiamaka Nnadozie to pull off a fine save from Rachel Daly’s powerful header.
The game inevitably went to extra time and again Nigeria looked most likely, Michele Alozie and Oshoala both going close, but neither team could break the deadlock.
Editor Paul Akhagbemhe
