England survived a major scare to beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties and sneak through to a World Cup quarter-final against Colombia or Jamaica following a goalless draw. Bethany England, Rachel Daly, Alex Greenwood and Chloe Kelly all scored in Brisbane as England survived the sending off of Lauren James in normal time to progress.
Georgia Stanway and Desire Oparanozie sent their opening sides penalties wide of the post before Michelle Alozie also missed the target for Nigeria to leave England in control. James was sent off for a reckless stamp with four minutes of the 90 remaining, planting her studs on the back of Alozie. She was initially shown a yellow card but it was changed to a straight red after referee Melissa Borjas checked her pitch-side monitor on the recommendation of the VAR.
Her dismissal left England facing spot-kicks to avoid another massive shock at the tournament, which had already seen former winners USA and Germany eliminated early, along with Brazil. James will miss the quarter-final against on Saturday.
