Lauren James scored two goals and assisted on three others to lead England into the Round of 16 of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with a 6-1 shellacking of China on Tuesday in Adelaide, Australia.
The dominant win means England are group winners and will face Nigeria in the last 16 on Monday, August 7.
China’s Shuang Wang scored the only goal in defeat. China failed to advance from the group stage for the first time in a Women’s World Cup.
China was blown away by a clinical England and particularly Lauren James.
Alessia Russo scored in the fourth minute and Lauren James assisted again on the second goal of the match — punched in by Lauren Hemp — before she scored the first of her pair of goals from the box in the 41st minute. Chloe Kelly and Rachel Daly also netted goals for England, which matched its widest margin of victory in a Women’s World Cup game.
Lauren James (left) celebrates with Rachel Daly after scoring another brilliant goal for England.
The Nigerians have had some great performances in this tournament so far. They held Olympic champions Canada to a 0-0 draw; they beat co-hosts Australia 3-2 and had another 0-0 draw with Ireland.
The last 16 match will be a tricky one for the Lionesses and they will have to quell the forward threat of Barcelona forward Asisat Oshoala.
Denmark 2, Haiti 0
For the first time since 1995, Denmark advanced from the group stage of the Women’s World Cup with a 2-0 win over Haiti (0-3-0, zero points) in Perth, Australia.
Denmark (2-1-0, six points) scored on two of its six shots on goal with scores from Pernille Harder and Sanne Troelsgaard. Harder scored on a penalty after Dayana Pierre-Louis was called for a handball. Troelsgaard scored in stoppage time to seal the Danes’ spot in the knockout round.
Co-host Australia awaits Denmark, which finished second in Group D to England, in a Monday match.
Netherlands 7, Vietnam 0
Five first-half goals allowed the Netherlands (2-0-1, seven points) to cruise past Vietnam at Dunedin, New Zealand, and wrap up the top spot in Group E. Esmee Brugts and Jill Roord scored twice apiece in the blowout.
Lieke Martens opened the scoring in the eighth minute, and Katja Snoeijs doubled the lead three minutes later. Goals from Brugts (18th minute) and Roord (23rd) put the outcome all but out of reach, and Danielle van de Donk added a fifth in the 45th minute.
In the second half, Brugts (57th) and Roord (83rd) rounded out the scoring. Vietnam concluded its first Women’s World Cup appearance with losses in all three of its games.
Source: GraphicOnline
