Women’s World Cup: England beat Nigeria in shootouts to qualify to the quarterfinals

England are through to the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup via a dramatic penalty shootout win over Nigeria.

It was a match Nigeria could have won but the Super Falcons missed a chance too many.

The 11-time African champions came close to scoring in the first half when Ashleigh Plumptre’s powerful drive cannoned off the woodwork. They would hit the woodwork again when Uchenna Kanu looped a header over England keeper Mary Earps but her effort bounced off the top of the bar.

Earps was called into action on many occasions but responded well to deny Plumptre’s near post effort, and later pulled an even more impressive save to deny the excellent Uchenna Kanu.

Nigeria had their hearts in their mouth when the referee awarded England a penalty after Rachel Daly went down following a challenge by Rasheedat Ajibade. However, the decision was rightly overturned by VAR.

After 87minutes, England’s Lauren James was sent off after a silly stamp on Nigeria’s Michelle Onozie in the back.

Despite the numerical advantage in extra time, Nigeria failed to score, forcing extra time.

Nigeria should have taken an early lead during the shootouts after Georgia Stanway, England’s first penalty-taker fired wide. However, the Super Falcons missed their next two attempts.

They paid dearly for their profligacy when Chloe Kelly expertly dispatched the winning kick to send the European champions through to the quarter final.