England scraped into the quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup when they beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties in Brisbane on Monday.Despite Nigeria having the better of the chances throughout, the European Champions — reduced to 10 players after 87 minutes — snuck home in front of 50,000 spectators after the match had finished 0-0 at the end of extra time
England held on after playmaker Lauren James received a red card for a needless stamp and will know they have to improve if they want to add the World Cup to their European crown.
They will face Colombia or Jamaica on Saturday for a place in the semi-finals.
England got off to a terrible start in the penalty shootout when Georgia Stanway fired wide, but Desire Oparanozie couldn’t take advantage and missed with an almost identical effort.
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