He left Germany early. Brazil was also dropped against prognosis. The defeat of the United States, defending champions, was a major surprise. And England was visited by all the ghosts when Stanway sent the first kick of the penalty shootout against Nigeria wide. The English elimination in the round of 16 hovered over the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Another giant on the edge of the precipice. One more chime was intuited. Africa was excited to see a representative of their continent in the quarterfinals of a women’s World Cup for the second time in history. The color of the Nigerian jersey was hope green more than ever. The African dream, however, began to fade with Oparanozie’s mistake from eleven meters and turned into a nightmare for the second time in a row. Alozie sent the ball well over the bar, as far as the Super Eagles rank. On the other hand, the British breathed with relief, who no longer missed from the fateful point (4-2), with Kelly signing the final goal, and confirmed their presence, with much suffering, among the eight best of the event in Australia and New Zealand .
It is not being an easy tournament for the new European champion. The English started with the band of favourites, with the sign of a possible replacement in World Cup soccer for the hegemonic United States. But the road for the lionesses as a whole is having many more potholes than expected.
They reached the antipodes with the well-known casualties of Beth Mead, Williamson and Kirby and in the group stage match against Denmark Keira Walsh, a crucial, structural player, joined the infirmary with a knee injury, the axis in the spinal cord . The Barcelona player, who played forced against Nigeria after a miraculous recovery, suffered in the last minute of extra time.
It was Walsh’s last service in a match where the Africans put fear into the body of Sarina Wigman’s team, who amassed possession but without a bite. Nothing to do with the win against China (1-6). The speed of the Africans was an ordeal for an English defense that saw their backs caught on several occasions. The blaugrana Lucy Bronze was more attentive to drain water than to go up in attack, the same as Daly on the other band.
There were no goals in regulation time, but there were numerous opportunities. Plumptre in the opening stretch and Kanu after the restart ran into the crossbar of an English team with a player less during extra time due to an ugly action by Lauren James. The one from Chelsea stepped on Alozie’s back when they both got up from the grass. England held on, emerged victorious from eleven meters and will face the winner of Colombia-Jamaica in the quarterfinals.
