The Lionesses will be aiming to help ease the Monday blues when they take on Nigeria in the Women’s World Cup in the early kick off.
The tournament, taking place in Australia and New Zealand, has already thrown up some amazing stories and astonishing results. England came into the competition as the reigning European champions and as one of the favourites to win their first World Cup.
Below, we’ll preview this round of 16 tie that looks certain to provide plenty of entertainment. Keep reading for our thoughts and analysis.
Faultless
Although it hasn’t gone entirely to plan for England Women up to this point, they come into the knockout stages on the back of a faultless run in the group stages. After a troubling 1-0 win over minnows Haiti, the Lionesses put in a better performance to see off Denmark by the same scoreline.
Serena Wiegman had seen enough and made wholesale changes to the personnel and system of her England side before taking on China in the final group game. The result of that was a resounding 6-1 win which she hopes will springboard their campaign and send her players in this game with sky high confidence.
Surprising
Nigeria found themselves drawn in Group B along with Ireland, Canada and co-hosts Australia. There wasn’t much hope of them getting out of that group, but an unbeaten run of two draws and win saw them finish second behind Australia. The most surprising aspects were no doubt their 3-2 win over the Matildas, which subsequently knocked out Canada.
Their other two games in the group were 0-0 draws, so there appears to be an issue with goalscoring which could be a problem for them here. England’s defence has been steadfast so far in the tournament and the one goal they have conceded was from a penalty. Nigeria will have to be on top of their game to get past the Lionesses.
Firepower
England should have no such issues scoring goals. As they showed in their demolition of China they possess a very talented attacking line that, when it’s on song, is capable of outsourcing anyone. If Wiegman can get that perfect mix of creative attacking energy and strong defensive organisation from her side, Nigeria will struggle to cope.
The Lionesses have shown some occasional frailties when put under pressure, which happened in all of their group games at one point or another. It will take a perfect performance from Nigeria, but they are capable of causing England problems up front, while also holding strong at the back. It looks set to be a tight game.
Favourites
With some pre-tournament favourites exiting early and struggling, England Women find themselves among the favourites to win this competition. Can they handle the pressure? Only time will tell. This could be the start of an historic few weeks for the Lionesses, but they first need to focus on getting past Nigeria. They’re more than good enough to win this game and the World Cup.