England are through to the 2023 Women’s World Cup knockout stages as Group D winners after romping to victory against China.
Sarina Wiegman sensed a big change was needed and surprised her opponents with a 5-3-2 formation led by Alessia Russo and Lauren Hemp up top and Lauren James sitting behind in the No 10 role. And any early nerves were eased inside just four minutes as Russo scored with a neat finish past Zhu Yu.
That also immediately appeared to free up the England squad as they looked like scoring with every move into China’s final third.
The second didn’t take long with Hemp racing through on goal to make it 2-0 before James rounded off a brilliant first half display with a curling effort from outside the box and she was denied a second on the stroke of half-time in a close VAR call against Lucy Bronze.
Job done it seemed but China weren’t going to lay down and got their chance with another VAR call going against Bronze with Wang Shuang scoring a penalty. But any sign of a comeback was quickly ruined with James scoring another belter with an epic volley.
Chloe Kelly and Rachel Daly rounded things off for England with two neat finishes as the Lionesses romped into the next round as group winners. A confidence-enducing victory for Wiegman’s side as they progress to the next round where they will face Nigeria on August 7.
