2023 Women's W'Cup: England Through To Quarters As Super Falcons Scare Nervy Lionesses In Epic Showdown | Football/Soccer

England had spent 87 minutes playing like a team who were afraid. A team who feared they were going to be the next victim of a giant-killing at this World Cup.

The Lionesses had watched reigning champions the United States crash out the night before. Germany, Brazil and Canada had already suffered shock exits.

When Lauren James, their star player, saw red for violent conduct in the 87th minute the game looked out of their grasp. It was shades of David Beckham’s stamp on Diego Simeone in 1998, of Wayne Rooney on Ricardo Carvalho in 2006. In both of those games, England lost on penalties. Not today, not this time.

Chloe Kelly was England’s hero again, scoring the winning spot-kick to give England a 4-3 victory on penalties.

It had not been expected to get to this point. England, ranked fourth in the world, were the heavy favourites. But this World Cup has shown us that the FIFA rankings are almost irrelevant. The underdogs have prevailed on more than one occasion. England are lucky they did not do so yesterday.

But the fight and determination they showed to prevail with 10 players should also be admired. They are a strong group, stronger than the US, stronger than Germany. They will have to be stronger than this if they want to win the tournament. But they are still here, still fighting. Sarina Wiegman, the only female manager left in this tournament, still standing.

Nigeria had multiple chances to take the lead throughout the 90 minutes. Early in the first half Ashleigh Plumptre sent a shot against the crossbar before her second effort minutes later was superbly saved by Mary Earps.

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