Women’s World Cup: Lauren James stunner gives England win over Denmark

England are on the verge of qualifying for the second round after a superb Lauren James goal gave them victory over Denmark.

The Chelsea forward found the bottom right corner from 20 yards to maintain England’s 100% record.

However, a knee injury to Barcelona midfielder Keira Walsh put a dampener on the result. Walsh went down when intercepting the ball and was stretchered off, casting doubt on whether she will be available for the rest of the tournament.

It took just six minutes for James to open the scoring when she cut in from the left before firing past Lene Christensen in style.

She could have added a second later in the first half, with Lucy Bronze also heading over as England were limited to one goal.

The Danes found their feet after Walsh’s injury though. Rikkie Madsen and Janni Thomsen came close and former Chelsea forward Pernille Harder fired wide.

Amalie Vangsgaard, scorer of a 90th-minute winner against China, headed against the post in the second half before England closed the game out.

Walsh injury a huge miss for England

Despite a far more positive performance in comparison to their opening match against Haiti, England’s performance levels dropped as soon as Walsh was stretchered off.

Walsh is the most expensive player in women’s football history and has missed just three matches since Sarina Wiegman took charge.

“Of course I’m concerned because she couldn’t walk off the pitch,” Wiegman said

“But we don’t know yet so we can’t make any assumptions. Let’s wait until we have a diagnosis then I can tell you.”

When asked if Walsh will need a scan, Wiegman said: “Probably. But I haven’t heard anything yet. During the game you have to move on and now it is time to look at how she is and the next steps.”

Goalscorer James added: “Obviously it’s disappointing to see one of our most valuable players get hurt but we had to just focus on getting the win and focus on what team that was playing at the time.”

England are already missing captain Leah Williamson and forwards Beth Mead and Fran Kirby due to long-term injuries.

Group rivals China and Haiti meet later today and a draw would confirm England’s place in the second round with a game to spare.

The Lionesses play China in their final group game on Tuesday. A point will be enough to send them through to the last-16 as Group D winners.

Cover Photo: “three lions. away.” by William Brawley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.