Attempts have been made to dull Lauren James’s star, to quell the rising excitement around the dynamic forward as she has developed. No more. With two goals and three assists in this victory over China, and a hat-trick denied only by a controversial VAR call, James helped England to make an emphatic statement of intent and announced her arrival on the world stage.
The result booked England’s place in the last 16, setting up a tie on Monday against Nigeria, and breathed life into a campaign that had yet to lift off.
