Sydney: With two goals and three assists, Lauren James made a big impact as England advanced to the knockout stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Tuesday with a 6-1 rout of China.
The Chelsea forward scored her second and third goals of the tournament with two wonderful strikes as the European champions finished atop Group D with three straight wins.
Alessia Russo, Lauren Hemp, substitute Chloe Kelly, and Rachel Daly also added goals at Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium, and China’s Wang Shuang pulled one back from the penalty spot.
China’s worst-ever loss at the tournament means it failed to advance from the group stage for the first time at a Women’s World Cup.
Denmark finished second to England in the group, advancing after a 2-0 win over Haiti.
England next plays Nigeria in the round of 16 Monday in Brisbane, kicking off three hours before Denmark plays co-host Australia in Sydney.
The Lionesses equaled their biggest-ever World Cup win, matching the margin against Argentina in 2007.
England also set a World Cup record by scoring in 16 consecutive games at the tournament.
England just had to avoid defeat to be guaranteed a place in the knockout stage after back-to-back wins of Haiti and Denmark.
Even with a 100% winning start there had still been questions over England’s performances, while a knee injury for Keira Walsh raised concerns about how coach Sarina Wiegman would replace one of her key players.
While the loss of Walsh is a setback for England, the emergence of James has made her one of the stars so far in the tournament.
After her brilliant winner against Denmark, she narrowly missed a hat trick against China. A VAR ruling deprived her of a goal just before halftime.
James was the provider as Alessia Russo got England off to a flying start in the fourth minute. With her first goal of the tournament, Russo controlled James’ header and fired low past goalkeeper Zhu Yu.
Hemp scored England’s second in the 26th, with James the provider again after swift counterattack.
James struck from the edge of the box in the 41st and, after Wang scored from the spot in the 57th, she provided the moment of match with a left-foot volley into the top corner.
James was the provider again with a perfectly-weighted pass beyond China’s defense for Kelly to score England’s fifth in the 77th. Daley rounded off the scoring in the 84th.
AP
