Women's World Cup, as it happened: Germany beats Nigeria to book quarterfinal spot

Germany netted three goals, including one from Alexandra Popp, who was making her 100th appearance, to seal its place in the quarterfinal. Thereby, the Germans also maintained their record of never failing to book a last-eight spot in the World Cup. Here's how it all happened-

Hello and welcome to Sportstar's live blog of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2019. This is Manasi Pathak and I will be giving you all updates from the match. The action kicks off today at Stade des Alpes in Grenoble, where Germany takes on Nigeria in the first fixture of the round of 16. Germany qualified to the knockouts on account of being the table topper of Group B, whereas Nigeria (Group A) progressed as one of the four best third-place finishers. Germany maintained a 100% win record in the group stages, winning all three of its matches - maintaining a +6 goal difference. On the other hand, Nigeria collected three points, defeating South Korea 2-0. The winner of this match will face the winner of Sweden vs Canada in the quarterfinal. So let's get going!

 

 

Follow the action LIVE:

-  Now, next up is Norway vs Australia at 12:30 AM IST. We will be back with the action from Reim. Until then, stay tuned to our live coverage of the Women's World Cup 2019. Thanks for tuning in and see you soon! - Manasi.

FULL TIME: GERMANY 3-0 NIGERIA - Germany is through to the quarterfinal of the 2019 Women's World, thanks to goals from Popp, Dabritz and Schuller. It will face the winner of Sweden vs Canada in the last 8.

90' OVER! Oberdorf brings down Ordega at the edge of the box. Nigeria is awarded a free-kick - Oparanozie takes the set piece but her attempt just curls over the bar!

82' GOAL! GERMANY 3-0 NIGERIA. Lea Schuller makes it three. Schuller makes the most of a misplaced back pass from Ayinde as she pounces on it and puts it into the net as unleashing the shot from distance. Germany, in all likeliness, will progress to the quarterfinal with this.

79' CHANCE! Daebritz blazes a shot past the far-post after she was found in a pocket of space in the penalty area! She had more time than she thought there!

73' The match is halted as Ihezuo is down and clutching her leg. While she receives medical attention, her team-mates gesture that a substitution will need to be made.

67' 17,988 is the attendance for today. This has been the highest attendance of the four World Cup matches which have taken place at Stade des Alpes. The venue is also the home stadium of Grenoble Foot 38, a men's team which plays in the second division of the French League. The average home attendance of the men's team in the 2018-19 season was 6,412. The difference in numbers!

58' Buhl sprints through the right flank before pulling the ball back for Gwinn inside the box with a backheel, but Gwinn is wasteful in front of goal as she sends it over the bar.

51' CHANCE! Half-time substitute Ajibade builds the action from the left wing as she puts in a cross for an onrushing Oparanozie. The strike makes the perfect run and sticks her leg out, but fails to poke it into the net just by a few inches.

47' An early corner kick for Nigeria sees Ihuezo step up for it. She puts in a power-packed ball but it misses Oparanozie and the others.

46' Second half kicks off.

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- Now, time for some half-time reading..

- Meanwhile, team news from tomorrow's France vs Brazil is that Marta and Formiga are both uncertain for the big clash. Formiga is carrying an ankle injury, whereas Marta is unsure of playing the whole match.

 

HALF TIME: GERMANY 2-0 NIGERIA - A header from Alexandra Popp and a penalty kick from Sara Dabritz keeps Germany in the lead at the break.

45+4'PENALTY SHOUT! The Nigerian players appeal to the referee after they deem there to have been a handball in the box, but the referee says no and sees no need to even head to the monitor.

45+3' CHANCE! Ordega does oh so well to run through the right wing before whipping in a cross for Oparanozie. The number 9 connects with the ball but fluffs the chance to send it into the back of the net.

40' Sloppy passing in midfield has really stalled both sides as of late. On the whole, Germany has had the majority of the ball with 68.6 per cent of possession thus far.

 

35' Nigeria has a free-kick awarded, which is quite far away from the box. A lobbed ball is delivered into the box, which is filled with the Super Falcons ready to head it in, but Gwinn clears it. The crowd is disappointed - fair to stay Nigeria has several supporters at Stade des Alpes today.

STAT:  Germany has now converted 13 of the 14 penalties it has been awarded at the Women's World Cup.

27' GOAL! GERMANY 2-0 NIGERIA. Sara Dabritz scores. Dabritz stands up for the spot-kick and aims for the bottom right corner. Goalkeeper Nnadozie goes the right way but fails to reach Dabritz's strike.

26' PENALTY! Nwabbuoko has been booked for her challenge on Popp, and a penalty kick is awarded to the Germans as the foul took place inside the box. Although it didn't look intentional, VAR calls it a spot-kick.

20' GOAL! GERMANY 1-0 NIGERIA. Alexandra Popp scores. Magull steps up for corner kick, she sends in a perfect ball in the box and Popp, who is unmarked, easily thumps it into the net with a header. The goal undergoes a VAR check as Huth was offside, but she didn't attempt to play the ball- thus the goal stands and is credited to Popp.

 

20' Ohale heads away the ball sent into the box for Gwinn. Germany wins a corner.

18' Popp makes space for herself outside the box and takes a shot, which deflects off Okeke for a corner. The danger is blocked from the set piece.

14' Schweers sends in a cross from the left wing, which is aimed for Schuller, but the latter fails to get there.

 

6' Early chance for Germany. The Europeans try an elaborate free-kick routine that doesn't quite come off, but the ball is recycled and worked through to Lina Magull in the Nigeria area. Fortunately for the Super Falcons, she controls it slightly behind her and Osinachi Ohale is able to block the effort.

1' KICK OFF!

- Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg replaces Buhl with Schuller, while Marozsan is on bench. For Nigeria, Ebere and Chikwelu are suspended, and Oshoala misses out.

LINE-UPS: Germany:  Schult, Gwinn, Doorsoun, Hegering, Schweers, Huth, Leupolz, Magull, Dabritz, Popp, Schuller. Subs: Benkarth, Simon, Hendrich, Maier, Oberdorf, Goessling, Marozsan, Elsig, Dallmann, Buhl, Knaak, Frohms. Nigeria:  Nnadozie, Okeke, Ebi, Nwabuoku, Ohale, Ordega, Ayinde, Okobi, Kanu, Ihezuo, Oparanozie. Subs: Oluehi, Okoronkwo, Imo, Oshoala, Uchendu, Ajibade, Ogebe, Chukwudi, Ebere, Chikwelu, Michael, Jonathan.

 

- As with the other teams from the African continent, Nigeria's undisputed edge will lie in its pace. The Super Falcons have shown that they are capable of brilliance in defense but have not managed to create scoring opportunities as well.

- Nigeria, on the other hand, barely scraped through to the knockouts, having had to wait until the last group stage game between Chile and Thailand to know if it was progressing.

- Die Nationalelf will heave a sigh of relief at the possibility of star midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsan's possible return to the touchline, even if among the substitutes. The Lyon player broke her toe in the team's opening tie against China and was out of its last two group games.

- Germany has sometimes seemed weak in the final third but the fact that it has managed to fend off all attempts at breaching its goalpost will come as shot in the arm to the European side.

-  Hello, folks. Two-time champion Germany is up against the Super Falcons in the first match of the last 16.