England dumped Nigeria out of the Women’s World Cup in a penalty shootout that ensued after a 0-0 draw after normal time and extra time.
The Lionesses who won the European Championship at a packed Wembley Stadium in London last year were expected to win comfortably against the 40th-ranked Nigerian team, but they were outplayed by the Super Falcons team.
The Nigerian team was dangerous during offensives and they gave the European champions a real fright on a number of occasions.
Super Falcons star, Ashleigh Plumptre had two golden chances to open the scoring. The first came 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.
England were forced to play with 10 women in the 87th minute, as their top scorer Lauren James was sent off for an ill-tempered stamp on the back of Michelle Alozie after the two went down in a tangled heap.
The Chelsea star was trying to lead a counter-attack when she was dispossessed by Alozie. Believing she was fouled, James appealed to the referee and when she did not get the free-kick, she left her studs on Alozie’s back when she got back to her feet.
James who was pocketed by Nigerian defenders during the match was initially shown a yellow card by the referee, but VAR recommended a review and the yellow card was upgraded to red after the act of petulance.
It was England’s first red card under Sarina Wiegman, and the first since Millie Bright was sent off in the 2019 World Cup semi-final defeat to the USA.
After the game rolled on to penalties, the Lionesses won 4-2 with substitute Chloe Kelly sealing the deal after Beth England, Rachel Daly and Alex Greenwood had all scored from the spot.
Nigeria’s Desire Oparanozie and Michelle Alozie missed with their opening two shots to put the Super Falcons behind in the shootout.
With Nigeria knocked out of the World Cup by England, Morocco now remains the only African side in the ongoing competition as South Africa and Zambia had been eliminated earlier.
