Izuchukwu OkosiEngland forward Lauren James on Thursday received a two-match ban by FIFA for her red card in the Women’s World Cup game with Nigeria.
James, 21, was sent off for stamping on the back of Super Falcons left back Michelle Alozie in the last 16-tie, which England won 4-2 on penalties.
The dismissal came with an automatic one-game ban which the world football governing body FIFA has increased, meaning she will miss the semi-final if England get there.
The Lionesses face Colombia in the quarter-finals on Saturday at 11:30am Nigerian time.
James is England’s top scorer in the tournament, having scored three goals, as well as assisting three more, in the group stages.
The Chelsea forward whose brother, Reece, was made the Chelsea men’s team captain by manager Mauricio Pochettino had apologised to Alozie on social media after the incident and promised to learn from her mistake.
After the game, England boss Sarina Wiegman said: “She is inexperienced on this stage and in a split-second lost her emotions. It isn’t something she did on purpose. She apologised and felt really bad.
“She would never want to hurt someone. She is the sweetest person I know.”
If the Lionesses are knocked out of the World Cup on Saturday, James’ ban will carry over to England’s next international fixture.
To put things in perspective, Super Falcons midfielder Deborah Abiodun was red carded and handed a three-game ban for inadvertently lunging on a Canadian player which effectively put to an end her 2023 World Cup participation.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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