Lauren James suspension could cost England dear despite World Cup progress

FROM LANG PARK - In a moment of petulant frustration, Lauren James put England's World Cup campaign at risk by stepping on an opponent. Nigeria ran the Lionesses close, but they are through to the quarter-finals. Yet the cost of losing James to suspension is yet to be felt.

Despite prevailing 4-2 on penalties, England will be far from happy with their evening. Nigeria provided by far the biggest test of the tournament so far and it was one that Sarina Wiegman's team evtnually passed by the skin of their teeth - and with James no longer on the field.

Even after the drama of the night before in Melbourne when the United States crashed out at the hands of Sweden, nothing could have prepared the 49,461 fans in Brisbane for what was about to come - from a red card to penalties and, ultimately, England scraping through yet another game.

"I have never experienced so many problems," England boss Sarina Wiegman said on the events of the Australian evening. "You try to turn every stone and already think of the solution before it happens, and today we got totally tested on those stones!"

In the blink of an eye, the narrative around James went from everyone singing her praises as England’s X-factor, having almost single-handedly turned over China with two goals and three assists, to the player that potentially cost England their tournament.

"This was a moment, it was a split second," Wiegman continued, speaking on James. "She's an inexperienced player on this stage, and she's done really well, and I think in a split second she just lost her emotions. Of course, she doesn't want to hurt anyone, she's the sweetest person I know. It's a huge lesson to learn, but of course, it's not something she's done on purpose."

Damp is a fitting word to describe both the weather in Brisbane and the England performance against Nigeria. Fans slowly trickled into the stadium, feeling eerily quiet compared to the roaring crowds that had flocked to Adelaide to see the Lionesses thrash China 6-1 six days earlier.

Now in the knockouts, it was crunch time for England. Yet, like the stadium, there were several stark contrasts in this game compared to the dominance they displayed at the end of the group stage.

One of those was the sudden contrast in the narrative around the Lionesses. Over the weekend, it was all song and dance, "It’s coming home" peppering social media after Germany, Brazil and then the United States had all been knocked out of the competition.

Thing spun to gloom when, similar to David Beckham 25 years ago, that one childish lapse in judgement from James threatened to cost the reigning European champions everything.

James had shone in the 3-4-1-2 formation against China and that was how Wiegman lined up her team again. Keira Walsh’s reintroduction after injury also meant Georgia Stanway and James pressed higher, yet the system ended up rarely working with the midfielder in play.

Prior questions over Walsh’s fitness were answered when she trained with the team on Sunday.
However, the Barcelona midfielder ended up dropping so deep to avoid the Nigeria press that it interfered with Millie Bright’s role that had resulted in two goals against China. With James also being closely marked, it left Stanway as a lone ranger in the middle.

The Lionesses’, not used to playing in front of large scale neutral crowds, had to quickly adapt the many Australian fans in attendance, changing the atmosphere, as well as a cohort of Nigerian fans.

It was all one-way traffic towards Mary Earps at the start as the Super Falcons dominated the attack and realistically should have been 1-0l up after forcing two saves from England’s number one. The woodwork also saved the Lionesses from going a goal down so early in such a pivotal game.

The physicality of the contest had previously seemed alien to the England when facing Haiti, naivety in underestimating the aggression of their attack. Against an equally physically dominant Nigeria, it seemed England had not learned their lesson.

England appeared static, a stark contrast from the fluidity and connectivity they displayed against China, and it felt as if Nigeria had their number. The repetitive nature of attacks made it easy to defend and the once sublime press struggled to take any sort of shape to seal an advantage. Going the other way, Nigeria countered effectively and often caught the back-line out of position.

England had already had a stroke of luck taken away from them when a soft penalty was awarded for a supposed foul on Rachel Daly, overturned by VAR just as Georgia Stanway was waiting to take it. But when James was sent off it was arguably an even worse moment than seeing Walsh stretchered off against Denmark, with potentially graver consequences if she gets an extended three-game ban.

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Cheat code, X-factor, superstar, you could run out of ways to describe James. For such a young player on such a big stage with so many eyes on her, constant questions posed to both boss and teammates about the 21-year-old, cracks were suddenly split wide open for the youngster. The pressure hit boiling point, bubbling over into an action that got her sent off.

"She's disappointed, she's upset, she's a young player people forget that," Daly said, commenting on the incident. "They put a lot of pressure on her on the outside. Media, everyone puts a lot of pressure on the kid, she's a young girl, she's got a lot to learn and she knows that,” she added.

“She's a fantastic player with a bright future ahead of her.”

Echoing Daly’s points, Jess Carter said: "Social media is, I think, the devil. She’s got enough experience around her, enough people around her to help her and be there for her through everything. That’s what we are, we stick together as a team."

James had been on such a high, for it to come crashing down. What was she thinking? In the heat of the moment, she probably wasn't thinking.

England gave a shadow of the type of performances that pushed them to European glory last summer, but penalties eventually saw them through. In the short-term, James’ red card holds more implications for the team than it does for the player. Although devastated, she will bounce back, this highly unlikely to derail her talent and overall career trajectory. Yet it denies the Lionesses their game-changer on the pitch for at least one match - but potentially three and the rest of the tournament.

Forced to rethink already without key players who didn't make it here and the in-tournament injury to Walsh, Wiegman, once a master of calm consistency, will have to change things up again at this World Cup and hope that she can still find the winning formula once more.

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