England vs. Nigeria: Still, make sure you have a plenitude of substance to compensate If a style is in short force. That was the communication pounded home by Women’s World Cup favorites England as they crushed adversity and a tenacious Nigeria to reach the quarterfinals in Australia and New Zealand.
Chloe Kelly’s decisive spot kick in a 4- 2 penalty shootout palm, after the round- of- 16 ties had ended goalless and with England’s Lauren James transferred off, transferred the European titleholders into the last eight. That progress justified their billing as favorites to win the event( 225, according to Caesars Sportbook) in the wake of the reverse-to-reverse titleholders, the United States, exiting in another dramatic shootout against Sweden 24 hours before.
Carrying the favorites label in a World Cup can be as much of a burden as a source of provocation, however. The USWNT did little to warrant that status during their woeful crusade. After some emotional performances so far, it could be argued that Spain( 330), Japan( 475)co-hosts Australia( 750) or Sweden( 900) are better off the” most likely to” label than England, whose only eye-catching display so far was the 6- 1 group- stage palm against Asian titleholders China.
But while trainer Sarina Wiegman’s platoon was outplayed by Nigeria for long ages, and also had to deal with the 87th- nanosecond red card for James following a senseless stamp on Michelle Alozie, the Lionesses did what winners tend to do– they reorganized, dug deep and fed off the negativity of losing one of their stylish players to take the game into redundant time and penalties before arising victorious from that test of whim-whams.
” We did not anticipate it to be easy,” Wiegman said.” I give a lot of credit to Nigeria. I do not suppose I’ve ever been in such a violent game. It was veritably violent and competitive.”
Rather than calculate on the star rates of James, who was maybe overhyped her two pretensions and three assists against China, England made it through because of the desire of Rachel Daly, the protective reliability of Alex Greenwood, and Keira Walsh’s majestic 119- nanosecond performance in midfield after returning to the platoon following a knee injury. It would have been 120 twinkles, but after trying to see the game out until the very end, Walsh ultimately succumbed to the effects of her recent layoff with seconds left on the timepiece. But she had done her bit.
Daly was the name pantomime, however. The Aston Villa player, who outgunned the Women’s Super League scoring maps last season after converting from protector to striker, was formerly again stationed as a sect- reverse by Wiegman and she played as though she harbors a sense of injustice that she isn’t leading the attack. There’s a real fire within Daly, but it works in her favor and makes her such an important player for this England platoon. While she’s suitable to harness it in a positive way, James has still to learn that pivotal element and her red card, which came after VAR rightly called on adjudicator Melissa Borjas to review her original decision of a booking, could have bring England their World Cup hopes.
” She’s youthful,” Wiegman said of the 21- time-old Chelsea player.” This is just a split second, and she does not want to harm anyone. She’ll absolutely learn from it.”
It was like history repeating itself for England– both David Beckham and Wayne Rooney were famously transferred off for violent conduct in World Cup games for the men’s platoon previous to losing on penalties– but Wiegman’s Lionesses were suitable to avoid the same fate. Had they shown further of the faculty and dominance that generally comes with favorites, England could have had the game won long before James put their place in jeopardy. But her redundancy
eventually enabled England to show just why they’re regarded as the platoon most likely to crop as world titleholders on Aug 20.
TheU.S. are out, as is Germany, so that means that the brigades sitting No. 1 and No. 2 in the FIFA World Ranking are no longer blocking England’s path to glory. It’s also a reality that England are in the weaker half of the draw, with Japan, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands locked into the other side of the type in New Zealand- a grounded route to the final. Colombia or Jamaica will be England’s quarterfinal opponents on Saturday– a tie they will formerly again be anticipated to win– while Australia could be a tough nut to crack in the semifinal if the Matildas make it that far.
But once the swoon of the palm against Nigeria subsides, Wiegman and her players will know that they’ve to find another gear if they win England’s first Women’s World Cup. They need further creativity in midfield and Wiegman might have to consider replacing the ineffective forward Alessia Russo with Daly to give England further of a thing trouble.
But there are no question marks over the resoluteness of this England platoon. Their substance is gemstone solid, so if they can add the style, they can go all the way.
