FIFA WWC: Plumptre recalls the ‘special moment’ she played for Nigeria against ex-England team-mates

Super Falcons Ashleigh Plumptre a former England youth international felt "where she was meant to be" when lining up against her old teammates at the Women's World Cup.

The 25-year-old played with many of the Lionesses in age-group football for England, from under-15s to under-23s.

Yet a decision to play for Nigeria last year brought them together on opposite sides in the last-16 in Australia.

"Before the tournament, I genuinely had this feeling 'it's going to happen isn't it'," she told BBC Sport.

Nigeria's "unshakable self-belief as a team" helped them through a group which contained hosts Australia and Olympic champions Canada, to set up the poignant last-16 tie with the Lionesses.

"As soon as I saw it was England I just smiled to myself," Plumptre said.

"It was a really special moment for me. These are players that I've either grown up playing with or played against, or they're friends of mine, so to come up against them was really nice."

As a highly rated junior, Plumptre came through the international age groups with players such as Keira Walsh, Alessia Russo, and Georgia Stanway.

However, a decision with its roots beyond football persuaded her to stake her international future in the West African country with whom she qualified through her paternal grandfather.

"I've had people ask me 'Do you have any regrets, you could still have played for England' and I understand why people say that, but I'm exactly where I'm meant to be on my journey," she said.

"I made the decisions I made for a reason and the fact I was lining up against these players I used to play with, now with a different badge - another part of who I am - on my chest was really hard to put into words, but was really special."

'Two separate parts of my life came together

It had been a stressful few weeks heading into the landmark of a World Cup debut.

Along with her luggage, Plumptre also carried with her to Australia a nagging Achilles injury - picked up in helping club side Leicester City preserve their Women's Super League status.

"When I was out there I wasn't really training, I was just ticking over to try and get to games because I just wasn't able to," she said.

"If I'd trained like everyone else I wouldn't have got to the games."

The strategy worked. She started all four matches as Nigeria kept clean sheets in all but one, including that poignant second-round tie.

Lining up against former teammates, rivals, and friends, the enormity of the occasion, for very personal reasons, suddenly hit home.

"When the national anthems came on and the English national anthem came on first, I felt myself getting really emotional because it was two separate parts of my life coming together at that very point," she recalled.

 

"It was just really special. I felt I was exactly where I was meant to be."

Plumptre, from Nottingham, came close to putting Nigeria through to their second World Cup quarter-final and dumping out England.

She rattled the crossbar with a shot and forced keeper Mary Earps into a fine save before the Lionesses eventually came through on penalties.

"After the England game I just felt so grateful to have played in it," she added.

"In the build-up, I felt like the worst way for us to leave the tournament would be losing to England and then going on a plane back to England, but in fact, I honestly wouldn't have changed any of it.

"It was obviously disappointing in the end because we were so close.

"We had better chances than them and created more opportunities, but that's football."

While still yet to 'fully decompress from the five weeks', Plumptre has one eye on fulfilling another ambition and representing the Super Falcons at the Olympics in Paris next year.

"This is now the benchmark for us," she said.

"The expectation is that we compete with these teams all the time, hopefully, we have proven that."

Lifelong Leicester fan Plumptre is set to complete a move to an overseas club in the next couple of weeks

On a domestic level, Plumptre is set to move overseas for her next challenge after a three-and-half-year spell with her hometown club Leicester came to an end.

But like her decision to play for Nigeria, her new destination, to be announced in the coming weeks, was motivated by more than just football.

"Being with Nigeria, the most fulfilling part isn't just football, it's the whole experience and what it means for me, and it's the same thing when I played for Leicester," she explained.

"I chose Leicester because it was my home and a community I cared about, and it's the same with my next journey.

"I am playing for a coach that I truly believe in and I believe in having an impact on people, and that's what my next journey is about.

"It's being, again, a part of something bigger, because that's what football is to me."