BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA -- Chiamaka Nnadozie's Nigeria lineup had two chances hit the crossbar in a scoreless draw, and only missed out on the Women's World Cup quarterfinals after losing a penalty shootout against England.
By taking the European champions right to the wire, the Super Falcons proved, once again, that rankings are less important than respect for rival teams under the tournament's expanded 32-team format.
In the group stage, Nigeria held Olympic champion Canada to a 0-0 draw, upset co-host Australia 3-2 and advanced to the knockout stage after a 0-0 draw with Ireland.
A late red card for England forward Lauren James for stomping on Nigeria defender Michelle Alozie took the focus off two tight halves of football on Monday night that could have gone either way.
Ashleigh Plumptre's left-foot strike cannoned into the crossbar in the 17th minute and her right-foot shot, moments after the ball rebounded, forced a diving save from England goalkeeper Mary Earps. Uchenna Kanu's two second-half headers went within inches.
Had any of those chances found the back of the net, it's likely Nigeria would have gone on to win a knockout match for the first time in nine trips to the Women's World Cup and England would have followed the defending champion U.S. team, No. 2-ranked Germany, Canada and Brazil through the exit.
"Coming to the World Cup we had so many dreams. So sad today, but it's not the end," Nnadozie, Nigeria's goalkeeper and team leader, said. "We've been playing tough, tough games. There's no easy teams. We respect them all. Right now, we have to work harder and come back stronger again."
Nigeria's players leave this World Cup with respect well-earned on the field that they now want matched by their national soccer federation in a dispute over bonus payments and expenses dating back to 2021.
The global player's union FIFPRO issued a statement the morning after Nigeria's exit to say it was time to speak out and work on ensuring the players' "contractual rights are honored and the outstanding payments are settled."
By reaching the round of 16, each player should get $60,000 from FIFA's prize money fund according to the escalating scale of payments guaranteed by the sport's governing body.
The union said the players are "extremely frustrated" at having to chase their federation for promised pay and expenses.
"It is regrettable," FIFPRO said, "that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers."
The federation accused FIFPRO of "shouting from far off" and said in a statement that is has "no issues with the players. It had assured them before the World Cup that they would be paid the couple of friendly matches and qualifying matches for which they were being owed appearance fees and bonuses respectively. It pledged to pay the money once the World Cup money is paid."
Nigeria was ranked 40th the world in June but the players and coaching staff never had any doubts they could mix it with the elite teams on the biggest stage for the women's game
"We're not surprised to get to this stage. We believe in ourselves," Nnadozie said. "We knew we could come here and go far. We just have to keep our heads up."
Plumptre grew up playing as a forward in England's youth teams before making a choice to represent Nigeria, and didn't regret it for a minute.
"Football for me is more of a life journey that I'm on. I wanted to explore more of my heritage," she said. "For me, this, even though it's football, it's learning. For me, there's nothing more fulfilling. I'm disappointed in the result, but grateful I've had the opportunity."
Now a center back, the 25-year-old Plumptre said the Super Falcons had set a higher bar for future performances.
"We have the expectation that we should be competing with the top-ranked teams," she said. "We should be pushing them to the very end. We can be getting results against them. Because, not only this game have we done that, but we've done that throughout the group stage as well.
"We've proven that in this tournament and I'm sure we can do that going forward."
Nigeria's American coach Randy Waldrum silenced his pre-tournament critics by preparing a team that went within the thickness of a crossbar of reaching the last eight at the World Cup.
"I take away that we can be and probably should be one of the top teams in the world," he said. "I certainly hope that FIFA ranking goes from 42 to a better number. More importantly, I think we've just shown that we're capable of playing with anybody."
Waldrum said Nigeria's supporters should be proud of the Super Falcons and, of course, the players should be appreciated.
"We gave everything. I certainly hope that people back in Nigeria appreciate the job that they've done while they're here and I would hope that they're happy, not upset," he said. "I think we made the country proud and hopefully, around the world."
