Can England Reach the Last Eight of the Women's World Cup?
by Steve Ashfield | by Steve Ashfield
Can England Reach the Last Eight of the Women's World Cup?
Can European champions England win the world crown this month? After the group stages of the 2023 Women's World Cup, Sarina Wiegman's squad are the new favorites to lift the trophy. Now they are only four games away from achieving their target of becoming world champions. First though on Monday August 7th, they take on Nigeria who unexpectedly qualified for the knockout stages. England are strongly fancied to win the game and are available at odds of 1.3 at bet365 to win in 90 minutes. You can find all the prices for the game on our betting odds page. Can England get through and then face either Colombia or Jamaica in the last eight?
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Can James Continue Her Great Form?
There's no doubt who has been England's star so far in this 2023 Women's World Cup. Chelsea's Lauren James has already scored two goals for England in these championships and had one cracker disallowed. Not just that, the 21-year-old has made three assists and has proved invaluable to the Lionesses. Her England debut was only made last September but she's made a massive impact in this tournament.
England didn't actually get off to the greatest of starts in their group. They beat Haiti 1-0 with the only goal being a twice-taken penalty. Haiti had a great chance in the first half and England could easily have dropped points in that match. They were better against Denmark but again only won 1-0 but two wins was the perfect start, at least in terms of points won.
The Lionesses suffered several injury blows before the start of the 2023 Women's World Cup. Losing Beth Mead for example was not great news for them. The game against Denmark saw Keira Walsh but then England put in a highly impressive performance against China in their final group game. They only needed a point to ensure qualification but winning was never in doubt for them.
England changed to a 3-5-2 formation and put in a brilliant attacking performance winning the game 6-1. Those goals were extremely welcome because they'd not been scoring that many in recent matches. The win has seen the odds on England winning the Women's World Cup shorten to 4.00 at Unibet.
The path to the last four looks easier than anticipated. If they win this match, then they'll face either Colombia or Jamaica in the quarter finals. Those are opponents that England would feel confident about beating. Australia, France and Denmark (who they've already beaten) are the countries they'd likely face in the last four. England have got a great chance of progressing to their first final but first they need to get past Nigeria.
Can Nigeria Cause Another Shock?
Nigeria are bidding to reach their second Women's World Cup quarter final. Back in 1999 they got through a difficult group despite losing 7-1 to hosts, the USA. That took them into a quarter final against Brazil that was one of the matches of the tournament. The Super Falcons went 3-0 down, pulled the scores level but lost 4-3 after extra time. No one will complain if we get a match like that when they take on England on Monday August 7th. If you can't see the game live, remember you can keep up to date with all that's happening on our Livescore page.
The next four tournaments saw them lose in the group stages. Not so in 2023 though as they finished second in Group B behind Australia. Nigeria began that group with a goalless draw against Canada. Next up was a match against co-hosts Australia and they went a goal down in time added on in the first half. They weren't behind for long though with Kanu (above) equalizing before the half-time break finally arrived. Two goals in the second half put Nigeria in the driving seat and they eventually won the match 3-2. Can they cause another shock on Monday?
A goalless draw with Ireland in their final group fixture was a bit disappointing, However, with Australia beating Canada in the other match, five points from three games saw them finish second and reach the last 16.
Two clean sheets in three matches is an impressive statistic but William Hill have them at 12,00 to beat England in 90 minutes. They are unbeaten in their last seven internationals (one unofficial) but their previous form isn't too encouraging. Losses to the USA (twice) Japan, Mexico and Colombia in which they only scored one goal indicates they could struggle against an in-form England side who have found their scoring boots and it's the European champions who we believe will win in 90 minutes.
