England advanced to the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup after a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Nigeria. After a goalless draw in the regular and extra time, with the England footballers eventually triumphed by 4-2 after penalties in Brisbane.
The women’s European champions started the match more confidently and generally controlled what was happening on the field. They could have scored when Ashleigh Plumptre’s strike hit the crossbar. Gradually, the “Super Eagles” began to regain their confidence and responded with a shot by Michelle Alozie, which was cleared from the goal line by Alessia Russo. Before the break, the England’s team was again the more dangerous with tries from Rachel Daly and Alessia Russo, but Chiamaka Nnadozie saved.
The tempo of the game in the second half dropped, and the two teams rather managed to share moments of a certain advantage. Again, Rachel Daly and Alessia Russo were most dangerous forwards for England, but they suffered a blow late in regulation when Lauren James stepped on Michelle Alozie, leaving the Lionesses with a reduced squad. Naturally, this led to a more serious advantage for Nigeria in extra time, but the African women were never able to realize it through dangerous situations.
Both teams got off to a poor start on penalties, with the Europeans missing their first attempt by Georgia Stanway and the Nigerians their first two by Desire Oparanozie and Michelle Alozie. In the end, the English women scored four goals in their next penalties, as Bethany England, Rachel Daly, Alex Greenwood, and Chloe Kelly were accurate. On the other hand, Nigeria scored two penalties by Rasheedat Ajibade and Christy Ucheibe for the final 4-2 result.
In the quarter-finals, England will face the winner between Colombia and Jamaica.
