English sensation Lauren James says she believes Monday clash with Falcons will be a cracker

ENGLAND'S footballing sensation at the ongoing Women's World Cup Lauren James has said she believes their next opponents the Super Falcons will be a hard nut to crack when the two sides meet in the Round on 16 next Monday.

Nigeria and England which meet in the knock-out phase of the competition next week after both qualifying from their groups with relative ease. Ms James, 21, who plays for Chelsea Ladies in London, has been one of the sensations of the tournament, scoring three goals and terrorising opposing defences.

With her recent two goals in England's 6-1 demolition of China, Nigerian fans are very wary of James and believe special attention should be paid to her on Tuesday. However, James said she believes Nigeria is going to be very tough, adding that the tournament as a whole has been tough so far.

Ms James said: "Teams are catching up with each other and I know that will be another very difficult game. It’s what dreams are made of."

Randy Waldrum’s side finished second in their Group B with 5 points behind co-hosts Australia, while England, won all their three games on their way to top of the group. Their mouth-watering round of 16 match in Brisbane guarantees the winner a place in the quarter finals in what is proving to be the best women's World Cup ever.

In 1995, the last time the two countries met in the tournament, they were draw in the same group, some 28 years ago in Sweden. At that tournament, England's Lionesses edged the contest, beating the Falcons 3-2 to progress to the knockout stages , while Nigeria went home with just a point from her three group games.

Since then, however, the two teams have met in two friendly games, with Nigeria winning both of them. On July 23 2002, the two sides met ay Norwich City's Carrow Road ground with Nigeria wining 1-0 and then on April 22 2004, they met again at Reading's Madejski Stadium, with the Falcons thrashing the Lionesses 3-0.

However, England have since them become a force in the women's game, emerging as European champions in 2022 and coming fourth in the 2019 World Cup. Nigeria for her part lost to Germany at this same stage of the competition four years ago, so both countries will be aspiring to do better in this edition and reach the final on August 20.

Should the Falcons win on Monday, they will equal their best-ever quarter-final appearance in their history of the competition. In 1999, the Super Falcons got to the quarter finals of the tournament but were eliminated by Brazil who scored with a golden goal in extra time.