Women’s World Cup: Enter quarterfinals after beating Nigeria; Aussies follow suit

BRISBANE, August 7

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England dumped Nigeria out of the Women’s World Cup in a last-16 penalty shootout today with Chloe Kelly scoring the decisive spot-kick, following a 0-0 draw over 120 nerve-jangling minutes.

Beth England, Rachel Daly and Alex Greenwood also converted in a 4-2 shootout win for the European champions, who had a player sent off in regulation time.

“It’s amazing. Anything that’s thrown at this team, we show what we’re capable of,” Kelly told the BBC. “We dig deep as a group and we believe in our ability.”

England played with 10 women through extra time after forward Lauren James, their top scorer with three goals in the group stage, was sent off in the 87th minute for an ill-tempered stamp on the back of Michelle Alozie after the two went down in a tangled heap.

“This team is special, we did it in the Euros, we did it in the Finalissima (a shootout win against Brazil), and we’re here again tonight and doing it,” added Kelly, who scored the winner in the Euro 2022 final against Germany. “And we keep pushing forward. There’s more to come from this special team.”

Kerr returns

Sydney: Co-hosts Australia welcomed captain Sam Kerr to the fray for the first time in the tournament as they beat Denmark 2-0 to reach the quarterfinals at Stadium Australia today.

Forwards Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso scored the goals either side of the halftime before Kerr, who has been absent with a calf injury, came on as a 78th-minute substitute to the biggest roar of the night from the crowd of 75,784. Denmark dominated the early exchanges with Pernille Harder looking particularly dangerous but faded as the game went on with their first World Cup campaign since 2007 destined to end in the last-16.

Australia, who have reached the last-eight at three previous World Cups but never gone further, move on to meet either France or Morocco in Brisbane on Saturday with a place in the semifinals on the line. “We were under a lot of pressure in first half but we didn’t get rattled,” said Australia coach Tony Gustavsson. — Reuters

Surprise package Morocco out to create more history

Adelaide: Morocco’s clash with favourites France in the Women’s World Cup tomorrow will be a special occasion for their players and coach Reynald Pedros as the tournament debutantes aim to continue their fairytale run by reaching the quarterfinals.

In one of the most unexpected outcomes of an already unpredictable group stage, Morocco reached the knockouts as runners-up to Colombia in Group H after beating the South Americans 1-0 while second-ranked Germany failed to advance.

Pedros, 51, is a former France international and said he was looking forward to taking on the country of his birth when the two teams face off in the last-16. “I am French but my heart is with Morocco,” Pedros said today. “It’s been three years since we’ve been working hard to get these incredible objectives. “I will do everything for us to qualify.” Reuters