Nigeria miss World Cup sensation
European champions England save themselves in the penalty thriller
08/07/2023 12:28 p.m
The European champions are in the quarter-finals of the women’s World Cup. With Nigeria slipping up on penalties once too often, England prevailed – despite being outnumbered through the whole of extra time.
In a football thriller, European champions England only reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with a lot of luck. The co-favourites beat outsiders Nigeria 4-2 on penalties after 120 goalless minutes and a long deficit. Chloe Kelly, winning goalscorer in the 2022 European Championship final against Germany, converted the decisive shot, Nigeria’s players had previously missed twice.
After the red card against striker Lauren James because of a revenge foul (87th), England had threatened to end prematurely, but the Lionesses saved themselves over time. England are in the quarter-finals for the fifth straight season, where they face Colombia or Jamaica on Saturday.
In front of 49,461 fans in Brisbane, Australia, England’s concentrated offensive power initially hardly developed. After three wins and 8-1 goals in the first round, team manager Sarina Wiegman’s side started cautiously and were even lucky when Nigeria’s English-born defender Ashleigh Plumptre hit the bar (17′).
England only got free after about 25 minutes against the strong Nigerians, who lost to Germany in the round of 16 four years ago. When referee Melissa Borjas (Honduras) gave England a penalty in the 31st minute, the game seemed to be going as expected – but after seeing the video images, Borjas called the whistle back.
There was also excitement in the second half, in which playful highlights became increasingly rare. Only a header from Rachel Daly (76th) caused danger again. After James was sent off, the game became more and more divided, England withdrew and hoped for a penalty shootout – with success. The quarter-final opponent will be determined on Tuesday (10 a.m. CEST) in Melbourne when Deutschland-Schreck Colombia meets Jamaica.