Australia down Denmark; England edge Nigeria

SYDNEY:Talismanic captain Sam Kerr returned from injury on Monday as co-host Australia stormed into the FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinals with a 2-0 victory over Denmark.

Kerr earned a deafening ovation from the 75,784 fans in Sydney when she entered in the 80th minute after goals from Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso had put the Matildas in the box seat.

The 29-year-old Kerr, the poster girl of the tournament, had a late chance but fired high and wide. Moments lat-er she lost her footing and grimaced on landing, but showed no ill-effects after that.

Australia will face France or Morocco in the quarterfinals.

Kerr's availability was a major focus heading into the game as she worked her way back from a calf injury sus-tained before the tournament.

In front of their rowdy fans, the Matildas started nervously with Denmark dictating the early exchanges.

Denmark star striker Pernille Harder was the standout player in the opening 20 minutes, continually threatening to open the scoring.

But Australia weathered the onslaught and settled into the contest as their nerves eased. The Matildas were re-warded in the 29th minute when Mary Fowler on the counterattack produced a perfect through ball to Foord, who calmly fired between the legs of goalkeeper Lene Christensen.

Denmark appeared to be wilting after half-time amid a febrile atmosphere, and Australia capitalised in the 70th minute when Raso scored in the bottom corner. But the biggest ovation was left for Kerr, whose long-awaited return capped a momentous performance from Australia.

England dumped Nigeria out of the Women's World Cup in a last-16 penalty shootout with Chloe Kelly scoring the decisive spot-kick, following a 0-0 draw over 120 nerve-jangling minutes.

Beth England, Rachel Daly and Alex Greenwood also converted in a 4-2 shootout win for the European cham-pions, who had a player sent off in regulation time.

"It's amazing. Anything that's thrown at this team, we show what we're capable of," Kelly told the BBC. "We dig deep as a group and we believe in our ability."

England played with 10 women through extra time after forward Lauren James, their top scorer with three goals in the group stage, was sent off in the 87th minute for an ill-tempered stamp on the back of Michelle Alozie after the two went down in a tangled heap.

The Lionesses, who are unbeaten in 36 of their last 37 games, looked at times under Nigeria's intense pressure like they might become the latest top-10 casualty in a World Cup of terrific parity.

England keeper Mary Earps, named player of the match, said the Finalissima shootout in April was a terrific warmup for Monday's drama in front of 49,461 fans at Lang Park.

England are making their sixth World Cup appearance and have their sights set on beating their best finish of third in 2015. They were fourth four years ago in France.

The 40th-ranked Golden Falcons bow out of their ninth World Cup in the last 16 for the second consecutive time. Agencies

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