ADELAIDE — Rachel Daly has revealed she predicted Lauren James’ Player of the Match performance against China as soon as England arrived at the Hindmarsh Stadium.
James would have scored a spectacular hat-trick but for her second goal being controversially ruled out through VAR for an offside against Lucy Bronze.
The 21-year-old also set up goals for Alessia Russo, Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly as teammates and head coach Sarina Wiegman hailed her as a “special talent” who “flows over the pitch”.
“I will just say one thing, last night we were walking round the pitch, and we have come out of here and there’s the Player of the Match sign as you walk out,” Daly said.
“I said [to James]: ‘Have a look at that kid, because that will be you tomorrow night’. That’s how much we back her!
“She is unbelievable. I have got no more words to say about her. She is growing and growing, and the most important thing is we keep around her. She is a young player at the end of the day and she’s learning every day. She can pick up little bits from the older players, but she is LJ – and she’s brilliant.”
James’ first goal was not dissimilar to her curling effort from the edge of the box that proved the difference in last week’s 1-0 win over Denmark and Daly added: “She has got great technical ability, but those [goals] come out in training all the time. It’s nothing new for us.
“Like I said the other day, it’s just nice for the rest of the world to see how good she is. ‘Cheat code’ as everyone is calling her. That’s what she is.”
Daly and James were among those most affected by Wiegman’s shift to a 3-5-2 and asked how long the Lionesses had been working on the new system, the wing-back laughed “not so long!”
The Aston Villa star was in contention to replace Alessia Russo up front at the start of the tournament, then returned to her old position of left-back against Denmark, before moving higher up the pitch into the wing-back role against China. She insisted she “will play anywhere for England”, and considers her new position, one she has not played in before, “another one to add to my belt”.
James, meanwhile, fulfilled a No 10 role behind Russo and Hemp and burned brighter than ever, banishing fears she would not be able to create enough space in a congested midfield.
“You put LJ anywhere on the pitch and she’ll get the ball, because players want to play with her,” Daly said.
“I personally love linking up with her, she’s a great player. I can’t speak highly enough of her. But she caused a real problem throughout the whole game to be honest. She is a nightmare for defenders to defend as the ball just sticks to her. She’s lethal.”
Russo ends England goal drought
Russo also benefited from the change in formation as she scored her first international goal in over five months, a run dating back to the 4-0 win over South Korea in the Arnold Clark Cup.
“You’ve just got to go back to basics, work hard and that’s what I’ve been doing in training, hoping for a moment and when you get it you’ve got to take it with both hands,” she said.
“Really pleased to get on the scoresheet but more importantly we topped the group and now we’re ready for knockout football.”
Hitting China for six was the first time England had scored more than one in a game this calendar year, but Russo was adamant there had been no concerns in the camp about their lack of goals.
“I think you lot – the media – worry about that more than we do as players,” she said.
“We just want to win every game whether it’s 1-0 or 10-0. I think it’s amazing to score that many goals but we just want to win and progress through this tournament as players.”
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