England W vs Nigeria W prediction: WORLD: World Cup Women – Play Offs betting tips on match 2023-08-06 07:30.
England will hope the similarities between their FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) campaign and last summer’s successful UEFA European Championship run continue; after starting both group stages (W3) with 1-0 wins and finishing with victories by a five-goal margin, while they’re also still to concede from open play. They’ve overcome the absence of injured midfielder Keira Walsh with Lauren James taking centre stage against China (W 6-1) by contributing to five of the six goals England scored!
Now chasing a fifth consecutive WWC quarter-final appearance, the Lionesses play one of the tournament’s surprise packages Nigeria, who they beat 3-2 in their third ever WWC game in 1995. Another good omen is beating Cameroon 3-0 at this stage in 2019 in their only other WWC meeting with African opposition, the same scoreline by which Sarina Wiegman’s outfit beat Nigeria in their most recent H2H in 2004.
But as Australia learned by squandering a 1-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Nigeria, the Africans cannot be discounted as they make a second consecutive appearance in the last 16. Putting off-field disputes with their board aside, the Super Falcons reached this stage at the expense of reigning Olympic champions Canada and now seek another big scalp driven on by players plying their trade at some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
One of those, Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala, netted Nigeria’s third goal against Australia and is well-known to England’s players following stints at Arsenal and Liverpool. Her experience of the English game could also prove useful for her teammates as Randy Waldrum’s team bids to extend a run of no defeats across their last six official fixtures (W4, D2).
Players to watch: England’s James has contributed to six of their eight goals at this tournament (G3, A3) and her country has won all three of her goalscoring outings. Oshoala’s crucial strike against Australia saw her net in her third WWC yet she hasn’t opened the scoring for Nigeria since September 2019!
Hot streak: Nigeria haven’t scored in any of their last four WWC appearances against European sides (D1, L3).