Stumbling 10-player England beat Nigeria wins penalty shootout into quarter-finals at 2023 Women’s World Cup

England scraped through to the quarter-finals of the Women's World Cup with a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Nigeria despite Lauren James' red card.

Georgia Stanway fired wide with the opening penalty but Nigeria missed their next two efforts and the European champions secured their spot in the last eight when Chloe Kelly smashed in the winning kick.

After hammering China 6-1 to ensure they topped Group D with a 100% record, European champions England now faced tougher challenge as Nigeria in the Women’s World Cup last 16. The Super Falcons progressed to the knockout stages as Group B runners-up, snatching second place at the expense of Olympic champions Canada.

In an outburst of frustration, James stamped on Michelle Alozie's back in the 87th minute after losing possession and was rightly shown a red card following a video assistant referee (VAR) review.

England were given an almighty scare but face Colombia or Jamaica next at 11:30 BST on Saturday.

James' petulance meant England had to navigate extra time with 10 players, and Nigeria had their tails up following a sustained period of pressure prior to the Chelsea star's sending-off.

The nine-time African champions executed their gameplan to perfection, frustrating England, causing them problems on the break and winning almost every duel.

They hit the crossbar in each half, Ashleigh Plumptre's powerful drive ricocheting off the woodwork before Uchenna Kanu's header looped over goalkeeper Mary Earps and bounced off the top of the bar.

Earps was kept busy throughout, needing to produce smart saves to deny Plumptre at her near post in the first half and later keeping out Uchenna Kanu, who had an excellent performance.

Sarina Wiegman's England side thought they had a penalty in the first half when Rachel Daly went down claiming a push by Rasheedat Ajibade, but it was overturned by VAR.

Only 24 hours earlier, back-to-back champions the USA were knocked out of the competition, and England were forced to show resilience to overcome one of their most challenging matches of Wiegman's tenure.

A 1-0 cathartic victory over an Denmark and Haiti ignited England's World Cup - although, Sarina Wiegman is hardly the character to get carried away by one victory.

England vs Nigeria last 5 game results

Let’s have a look at the two teams’ most recent games:

England

July 2023: China 1-6 England

July 2023: England 1-0 Denmark

July 2023: England 1-0 Haiti

July 2023: England 0-0 Portugal

April 2023: England 0-2 Australia

Nigeria

July 2023: Republic of Ireland 0-0 Nigeria

July 2023: Australia 2-3 Nigeria

July 2023: Nigeria 0-0 Canada

April 2023: New Zealand 0-3 Nigeria

April 2023: Nigeria 2-1 Haiti

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