England moved into the quarter-finals at the women's World Cup on Monday following a penalty shoot-out win over Nigeria. Hours later hosts Australia set up a clash with either France or Morocco after they beat Denmark 2-0.
England were under the cosh even before Lauren James was red-carded for a petulant stamp on Michelle Alozie in the 87th minute.
The European champions survived the subsequent battering in extra-time and claimed the shoot-out when Chloe Kelly thrashed her shot past Chiamaka Nnadozie.
Chloe Kelly 🤝 performing under pressure. pic.twitter.com/LgAv6r7Frl
— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) August 7, 2023
"It's amazing to go through," said Kelly. "Anything that's thrown at us we show what we're capable of. We dig deep as a group and we believe in our ability."
England goalkeeper, Mary Earps – deemed player-of-the-match, added: "Nigeria played really, really well and I don't think we were at our best.
"It was a tough, tough game for us but I'm buzzing we got the job done and and onto the next one."
England will take on Jamaica or Colombia in the quarter-final on Saturday at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
Australia advanced thanks to goals in each half from Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso in front of nearly 76,000 partisans at Stadium Australia.
The game also witnessed the return of skipper Sam Kerr who has been out nursing a calf injury since just before the start of the tournament last month.
