England’s pursuit of Women’s World Cup glory is still alive after they won on penalties to come through a tense round-of-16 match against Nigeria to reach the quarter-finals.
The Super Falcons were bidding to become the first African nation to win a knockout game in the tournament’s history and they came close, hitting the woodwork in both halves of normal time.
England were not at their best and looked in trouble when Lauren James was sent off late on for stamping on Michelle Alozie.
But the Lionesses were solid in extra time and took it to penalties after the game finished goalless at the end of 120 minutes, with Chloe Kelly — the scorer of their winning goal in the European Championship final — scoring the decisive spot kick.
They will now play Colombia or Jamaica in the quarter-finals in Sydney on Saturday.
