FIFA Women’s World Cup: England, Australia storm into quarterfinals

England overcame 120 minutes of below-par performance against Nigeria and won by 4-2 on penalties to secure their spot

Canberra: England overcame 120 minutes of below-par performance against Nigeria and won by 4-2 on penalties to secure their spot in the FIFA Women’s World Cup on Monday at Queensland.

Nigeria dominated the play for whole of regulation time and the extra time, but England pulled out all the stops during the penalties to secure the final eight spot, despite Lauren James being given a red card.

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In the first half, Nigeria made some chances for themselves but failed to score. For instance, Alozie’s header was saved by Alessia Russo from going into the nets.

Later, Ashleigh Plumptre’s effort for Nigeria hit the crossbar and another effort of hers was pushed away by Mary Earps.’ England registered their first shot in the 23rd minute. Russo tried taking advantage of a defence error by Nigeria, but Chiamaka Nnadozie saved it well. A half-volley by Rachel Daly also met the palms of the Nigerian goalkeeper.

England was awarded a penalty 30 minutes into the game, with Rasheeat Ajibade penalised for pulling Daly to the floor during a tussle inside the area.

The Nigerian players pleaded their case as Georgia Stanway prepared to take the penalty and the spot kick was overturned.

At half-time, both teams were goalless. Two minutes after the action resumed, Nigeria hit the bar for the second time. The Nigerians continued to make more chances for themselves, with Ajibade and Uchenna Kanu among those trying to score.

England could have taken a lead in the 75th minute after a header by Daly, but a brilliant save from the goalkeeper Nnadozie denied them the lead.

Things got worse for Lionesses when James was given a red card for a physical altercation with Alonzie. England and Nigeria finished the regulation time goalless and could not convert any of their chances in the extra time either.

England and Nigeria missed their first penalties but Bethany England smashed the second penalty, making it 1-0. Nigeria missed their second as well.

Daly converted England’s third penalty and Ajibade scored in third penalty of Nigeria into a goal to make it 2-1. But successful conversions by Alex Greenwood and Chloe Kelly meant that Nigeria was left at the losing side despite a penalty conversion by Christy Ucheibe.

On the other side, Australia also booked their berth in the final eight after securing an easy 2-0 win over Denmark. Denmark looked to score early, with Pernille Harder making some several runs into the defences of her opponents and striking straight at the Aussie goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.

Arsenal forward Caitlin Foord gave the Aussies the lead in the 29th minute. Mary Folwer played the ball to Foord on the left and she put it past goalkeeper Lene Christiansen to make it 1-0 for the Aussies.

The Danes tried to find their way back into the match, but lacked any conviction in their efforts. In the 70th minute, Fowler clipped the ball to Emily van Egmond, who fed the ball to Hayley Raso, who though off-balance, netted the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.

With the game won, the Australian coach Tony Gustafsson gave Chelsea forward Sam Kerr her first minutes on the pitch during the tournament to finish a positive day at Sydney. Australia will face France or Morocco in the quarterfinals. England will also face either Jamaica or Colombia in their final eight match.