England are through to the quarter-finals of the Women's World Cup 2023, after beating Nigeria in the last 16 on Monday.
The game finished 0-0 after extra time, with the closely-fought encounter concluding with a penalty shootout. Both teams attacked throughout the game, with a total of 36 shots raining in on the goals of England's Mary Earps and Nigeria's Chiamaka Nnadozie.
Only six of those shots were on target, however, and that lack of quality in the final third sent the game the full distance.
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The match was not without controversy or drama, though. In the 87th minute, referee Melissa Borjas sent off Lauren James, England's star player this tournament, after the 21-year-old petulantly stamped on Nigerian defender Michelle Alozie following a coming together.
Initially handed a yellow card, Borjas overturned James' sanction following a VAR review, meaning England had to see the game out with 10 players. They managed to hold on until the final whistle of regular time, as well as keep the game level in extra-time, to send the tie to a penalty shootout.
Georgia Stanway stepped up first for England, but hit her penalty wide. Desire Oparanozie followed suit for Nigeria, before Beth England coolly dispatched her spot kick down the middle.
England retained their advantage for the rest of the shootout thereafter, with Alozie missing Nigeria's second penalty. Rachel Daly and Alex Greenwood both scored, with Chloe Kelly bagging the winning penalty to send England through to the quarter-finals of the Women's World Cup 2023, where they'll face either Australia or Denmark, who play on Monday.
With USA already knocked out of the tournament, England have become the clear favourites among the bookmakers to win the Women's World Cup. While they've already beaten Denmark in the group stages of the tournament, Australia are the likely side to progress and did win 2-0 against the Lionesses during an April friendly.
The penalty shootout against Nigeria was just the third time England women have competed in the in the fate-deciding lottery at a major tournament, though they did beat Brazil in the Women's Finalissima at Wembley in April from 12 yards.
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Alex Greenwood has told FFT that she believes the development in the Lionesses recently is more mentality-focused than ability-based, while Christine Sinclair has spoken of her longevity. Intriguingly, Canada women’s head coach comes from a small town in County Durham – just like the men's – and FFT met Bev Priestman ahead of the tournament.
