England scraped through to the quarter-finals of the 2023 Women’s World Cup with a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Nigeria after surviving a gruelling onslaught with only 10 players on Monday morning.
Despite the first penalty-taker, Georgia Stanway, firing wide, Nigeria missed their next two, and the European champions secured their spot in the last eight when Chloe Kelly smashed in the winning kick.
In an outburst of frustration, Nigeria’s 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).
England were given an almighty scare but will face Colombia or Jamaica int the next stage of the ongoing tournament.
