Nigeria vs England: Six players liable to Women’s World Cup quarterfinal suspension

Nigeria senior women’s national team have reached the knock-out stages of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, where they will face England in the Round of 16 on Monday.

The winners will play in the quarter-finals against whichever team progresses from the knockout match between the second-placed side from Group F and the winners of Group H.

Nigeria finished second in Group B but with only one win. The African side drew 0-0 with Olympic Champions Canada, however, they shocked co-hosts Australia with a 3-2 victory and were also goalless in the stalemate against Ireland.

Despite qualifying for every edition of the tournament since its inception in 1991, it is the first time the Super Falcons will be finishing their group stage undefeated and reaching the round of 16 for the second consecutive edition for the first time.

Meanwhile, Sarina Wiegman’s side topped Group D with three wins. Although the 1-0 victories over Haiti and Denmark were a little underwhelming, given England’s status as European champions, they hit their stride in the 6-1 victory over China.

However, a combined six players from both sides are at risk of missing the quarter-finals in case their teams’ win.

Asisat Oshoala, Blessing Demehin, and Michelle Alozie, for Nigeria, and Lucy Bronze, Georgia Stanway, and Laurence Hemp are carrying over yellow cards from the group stage.

Should they be cautioned in the match on Monday, they will miss their team’s progress to the next round. Both Oshoala and England’s Lucy Bronze are teammates at FC Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Deborah Abiodun remains suspended for England match as there is no respite yet for Super Falcons’ teenage midfielder who was expelled in the team’s opening match with Canada at the ongoing Women’s World Cup.

She was initially given a yellow card which was upgraded to red following VAR intervention.

However, she will now serve a three-match ban following FIFA’s review of her red card against Canada following a tackle with Ashley Lawrence in the seventh minute of the added time of the match.

According to the disciplinary preview released by FIFA on the match, Abiodun will only return to playing in this tournament if Nigeria reaches the quarterfinals by defeating England on Monday.