England wants to progress to the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup for the sixth time but a tricky Nigeria team stands in their way.
ENG-W vs NIG-W Match Details
Date: Monday, 7 August 2023
Time: 13:00 (IST) / 17:30 (ACT)
Venue: Brisbane Football Stadium, Brisbane
ENG-W vs NIG-W Match Preview
England grind out 1-0 results from the first two games of the 2023 Women’s World Cup against Haiti and Denmark. Missing their ruthlessness in the Euros and with Keira Walsh missing the next couple of games with injury, the Lionesses seemed to have done their campaign. Then Sarina Weigman's mastermind tactics to switch from 4-3-3 to a 3-4-2-1 allowing Lauren James to operate behind Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo breathed new life into the team against China. England thrashed the Asian Champions 6-1 in the final match and James was in the thick of the action. The 21-year-old already became the second youngest goal-scorer for her country with a sensational strike against the Danes and she went on to add two more special strikes to her name. James also set up Russo’s opener and Hemp’s sublime finish in the first half making it one of the best individual performances ever at this stage. Chloe Kelly and Rachel Daly also got on the scoresheet later in the game. The Lionesses conceded their first goal of the tournament through a controversial penalty converted by Wang Shuang. It did little to suppress England’s joy of advancing from the group stages with a 100% record and without conceding a goal from open play. Having not lost a competitive game under Weigman, the team will have no reasons to pull the breaks against Nigeria in the last 16 but they are a side capable of pulling upsets.
Co-hosts Australia got to know about the fact in their 3-2 defeat in their second group game with the Super Falcons. Two 0-0 draws on either side of that result helped the Nigerians to reach the last-16 stage for consecutive finals and third knockout qualification in nine attempts. They are one of the three African sides alongside South Africa and debutants Morocco to move into this edition’s last-16 stage, the first time ever happened in the competition. Their draw against Ireland in the final group match placed them as runners-up. A game which Randy Waldrum’s side could have won if Asisat Oshoala did not miss a glorious chance at the beginning or Uchenna Kanu’s clinical header was not tipped onto the crossbar sensationally by Irish keeper Courtney Brosnan. The result could also have been different if the opposition did not waste opportunities falling to Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan. With Matildas winning the group instead after beating Canada, Nigeria had to settle for a tie against the Euro winners England. The magnitude of their clash will not dampen the spirits of the Super Falcons having caused significant problems to the higher-ranked nations in their group. Also, the 2023 Women’s World Cup have a lot of shocking results to get motivated from but stopping a team that has scored in each of their last 16 games in the finals, a tournament record, with nine in the knockouts will be complex. England also won the last meeting in the finals between the pair back in 1995.
Recent Form (Women’s World Cup)
ENG-W: WWW
NIG-W: DWD
ENG-W vs NIG-W Team News
Keira Walsh has been back in training individually for England since picking up a knee injury against Denmark. The Lionesses have to wait a little longer to have her service as she might not be available before the quarterfinals if they get there. Manchester United’s Katie Zelem did an incredible job in place of her against China and will continue to partner Georgia Stanway in the middle of the park.
Meanwhile, Nigeria will get back the service of Deborah Abiodun after her red card in the opening game against Canada. However, coach Waldrum is expected to name an unchanged eleven from the last game. Kanu and Oshoala are willing to add to their strikes against Australia after coming close to breaking the deadlock in the stalemate against Ireland.
ENG-W vs NIG-W Predicted Lineups
ENG-W: Earps; Carter, Bright, Greenwood; Bronze, Stanway, Zelem, Daly; James; Hemp, Russo
NIG-W: Nnadozie; Alozie, Ohale, Demehin, Plumptre; Ucheibe, Ayinde; Ajibade, Payne, Kanu; Oshoala
ENG-W vs NIG-W Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Earps (Cr - 8, Pts - 97)
DEF: Plumptre (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 85), Bright (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 139), Ohale (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 139), Greenwood (Cr - 9, Pts - 201)
MID: Kanu (Cr - 9, Pts - 103), Stanway (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 131), James (Cr - 9, Pts - 278)
FW: Kelly (Cr - 8, Pts - 129), Oshoala (Cr - 9, Pts - 64), Russo (Cr - 9, Pts - 102)
Vice-captain: Georgia Stanway
Captain: Lauren James
