It was a brave performance for Nigeria Super Falcons but they are out of the 2023 WWC after losing to England on penalties.
England beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties on Monday to reach the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup after their last-16 tie finished 0-0 at the end of extra time.
The Super Falcons held the European champions to a goalless draw until 120 minutes after Lauren James got red-carded for stamping on Alozie.
This online news medium understands that Desire Oparanozie and Michelle Alozie missed their spot-kicks during the penalty shoot-out.
Chloe Kelly scored the winning kick in the shoot-out to take European champions England, who had Lauren James sent off in normal time, through to a last-eight tie against Colombia or Jamaica.
The Nigerians, however, have shown in this World Cup that they have the game to challenge anybody.
They stunned hosts Australia in the group stage, taking advantage of their speed in the transition to score a 3-2 win.
And they employed the same tactics against England, whose back three were regularly exposed by the Nigerian attack.
England had started the match strongly and rattled Nigeria in the opening skirmishes as the Lionesses found plenty of space out wide.
They also controlled possession, completing 173 passes in the first half to Nigeria’s 83.
But it was the Nigerians who looked the most dangerous and they gave the European champions a real fright on a number of occasions.
England-born Ashleigh Plumptre had two golden chances to open the scoring, the first coming in the 16th minute when a strike from outside the box crashed into the crossbar.
A minute later she forced a fine diving save from Mary Earps.
The Nigerians had eight shots at goal in the first half, three more than England, whose best chance fell to Alessia Russo in the 23rd minute.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first, England dominating possession but Nigeria looking the more dangerous.
England had a golden chance to seal the match with 15 minutes left only for Chiamaka Nnadozie to pull off a fine save from Rachel Daly’s powerful header.
The game inevitably went to extra time and again Nigeria looked most likely, Michele Alozie and Oshoala both going close, but neither team could break the deadlock.
Lovetnews
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