Lauren James celebrating her FIFA Women’s World Cup goal for England against Denmark. Photo credit: Barclays Women’s Super League via Twitter.
England saw off late pressure to beat Denmark in Sydney as Lauren James marked her first competitive start with a spectacular early goal in a match which was marred by a first half injury to Keira Walsh.
Sarina Weigman made two changes from the side who beat Haiti in the opening game, with James and Rachel Daly coming in. It was those two players who combined for the opener as Daly’s pass was collected by James 22 yards out and arrowed into the top corner.
The goal was part of an impressive start from England, who had received criticism in the build-up for the lack of goals from open play in recent games. England almost created a second after 10 minutes from a corner. The corner was taken by Alex Greenwood and headed towards goal by Lucy Bronze, but Chloe Kelly’s acrobatic effort went over. Bronze also delivered a dangerous cross into the box towards James, but it was gathered by Line Christensen.
It took until the 24th minute for Denmark to have their first effort of the game through Rikke Madsen as she had the beating of Alex Greenwood, but her shot on the turn went over. Janni Thomsen and Pernille Harder also had opportunities, with Harder the first to force Mary Earps into action.
Seven minutes before half time a moment which caused major concern. Keira Walsh went down while in possession and appeared to mouth “I’ve done my knee” to the physios before being taken off on a stretcher and replaced by Laura Coombs. Walsh was later seen on crutches and after the game Weigman admitted she didn’t know how serious the injury was. Everyone assumed the worse, another dreaded anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury; However, it was later confirmed that Walsh has not torn her ACL. A relief for many.
It seemed to have an impact on England, with Fara Williams saying on BBC One that it forced a change of approach and allowed Denmark back in the game.
England had a raft of corners in the opening ten minutes of the second half, with Coombs and Bronze both getting shots away, but neither forced a save from Christensen. Katherine Kuhl had Denmark’s first chance after the break.
Danish manager Lars Sondergaard made his first change with 20 minutes to go with the introduction of Amalie Vangsgaard in place of Josefine Hasbo and that proved to be a major turning point as the Danes pushed for a leveller.
On 76 minutes both sides made a double change, with Alessia Russo and Ella Toone replaced by Beth England and Lauren Hemp as England freshened up their forward line. England had an opportunity within a few minutes of coming on, but her header from Daly’s cross went over.
Katrine Veje provided a moment of concern as her dangerous cross was tipped wide by Earps, the player of the match against Haiti once again rescuing her side. With three minutes left of normal time, Vangsgaard almost grabbed an equaliser, but her header struck the post.
This result, along with China’s win over Haiti later in the day, means that England top the group on six points, with Denmark and China both on three points with the Danes ahead on head-to-head record. Tuesday’s final round of games sees England face China, knowing a draw will be enough to secure qualification as group winners.
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