England win on penalties book last-8 spot after poor performance and down to 10
England have managed to book a spot in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Women’s World Cup following a dramatic penalty shootout win over Nigeria.
Although the lionesses progress, the game – which went to extra time – saw Nigeria dominate and England struggle to survive the gruelling onslaught.
England went down to 10 players after Lauren James stamped on Michelle Alozie’s back in the 87th minute after losing possession and was rightly shown a red card following a review by the video assistant referee (VAR).
The moment of madness by James is being compared to David Beckham’s sending-off in 1998.
Despite the poor performance, England were able to defend well and Mary Earps – once again – came to England’s rescue.
The first penalty taken by Georgia Stanway was missed, but Nigeria then missed their opening penalty too. England went through to the last 8 when Chloe Kelly stepped up and took the final kick.
Off the back of an exciting performance against China, many thought England had found its stride. But the Lionesses struggled throughout the full 90mins and extra time.
They’ve survived an almighty scare, and now must regroup and figure out what went wrong. They will face either Colombia or Jamaica next.