Lauren James shone again with two fine goals as England put in their best performance of the Women’s World Cup so far to sweep aside China 6-1 and march into the last 16 as Group D winners.
Alessia Russo gave the European champions the perfect start with a goal in the fourth minute and Lauren Hemp and James added two more to give England a comfortable lead at the break at Hindmarsh Stadium. Asian Champions China, who exit in the group stage for the first time in eight editions of the World Cup, came out firing in the second half and got a goal back through a Wang Shuang penalty.
China knew they were heading out of the tournament unless they responded, so they came out with more aggression in the second half, unnerving England slightly when Shuang Wang scored from the penalty spot after VAR picked up a handball by defender Lucy Bronze.
But James was not done yet - she volleyed Jess Carter's deep cross past helpless goalkeeper Yu Zhu for England's fourth before substitute Chloe Kelly and striker Rachel Daly joined the party.
England, who had quietly gone about their business in the group stages, will have raised eyebrows with this performance before their last-16 match against Nigeria on Monday, which will be shown live on BBC One at 08:30 BST.
China are out of the competition after Denmark beat Haiti to finish in second place in Group D.
it doesn’t matter what formation England play when Lauren James is in this kind of form.
The Chelsea forward tore China to pieces, scoring two goals and laying on three assists for her team-mates. Had it not been for VAR, which was more of a thorn in England’s side than China, James would have had a hat-trick.
The 21-year-old deserved one as she was simply unplayable here as the Lionesses well and truly clicked into gear at this World Cup.
This 6-1 victory over China secured them top spot in Group D and setup a last-16 showdown against Nigeria in Brisbane on Monday. On the evidence of this, England will take some stopping as they excelled with a formation that caught everyone off guard.
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