England beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties to reach Women's World Cup 2023 quarter-final

England takes another closer step toward securing World Cup

England beat Nigeria on penalties to dispatch them in the Women’s World Cup 2023 quarterfinals following a severe scare.

After Lauren James was dismissed for a petty boot on Nigerian player Michelle Alozie’s back, which placed the European champions under extreme strain, the Lionesses were forced to play the remainder of regulation time with just 10 players.

James is unquestionably out of the quarterfinal. The technical board of Fifa has the final say on any further matters. It will be a minimum of two matches and most likely three. Sadly, that should result in a three-match suspension.

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By switching from 3-3-2-2 to 4-4-1, Sarina Wiegman made a crucial tactical change, and England displayed strong defence in extra time.

Although they may have given up a penalty when Michelle Alozie was pushed from behind by Lucy Bronze, Jess Carter, Alex Greenwood, and Millie Bright were outstanding throughout the entire game, not only in extra time.

Desire Oparanozie and Alozie both botched their opening two penalty shots for Nigeria. Following Georgia Stanway’s failed attempt to give England the lead in the initial penalty of the shoot-out, Bethany England and Rachel Daly handed the Lionesses the lead for good.

Chloe Kelly proved England’s protagonist once more as she scored the game-winning kick after Alex Greenwood maintained her composure to convert and give the Lionesses a penalty.

After scoring the game-winning penalty Chloe Kelly said in a post-match interview:

It’s amazing. Anything that’s thrown at us, we show what we’re capable of. We dig deep as a group and we believe in our ability.

We’ve been practising penalties a lot and, yeah, it’s working! When I walk up to take a penalty, I think, “I’m gonna score”. That’s how I look at it. Once I win that mental battle, we’re good.

[On scoring another winning goal] Nah, [it’s] definitely not [about me]. It’s the team. We did in the Euros, we did it in the Finalissima and we did it again here. We keep pushing forward. There’s more to come from this special team.