England have lingering ghosts and star Lauren James has a different kind of burden
If you want to be entertained, you should watch Lauren James.
And if you are looking for a potential redemption story that is sprinkled with stardust at the Women's European Championships then you should definitely watch Lauren James.
The Chelsea star's sending off for violent conduct in a comfortable last-16 win over Nigeria at the 2023 World Cup meant she missed the rest of England's run to the final Down Under.
Defeat to Spain led to James receiving a torrent of racist abuse online, something which she previously felt compelled to speak out against when she was just 19-years-old.
But the vile nature of what came her way after that red card seemed even more cruel given how much joy her performances had given prior to that.
That World Cup felt like the emergence of a true superstar, her audacious technical skills combined with a sharp, singular focus in the final third.
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Her display against China PR in the final group game remains a standout of that tournament. Two sensational goals scored with either foot and only an tight offside call preventing her hat-trick after curling a shot in off the underside of the crossbar.
She did provide a treble of assists in that same game and, after starting the World Cup on the bench, she now seemed destined to make the stage hers and hers alone.
Until that rush of blood to the head when she stamped on Nigeria's Michelle Alozie.
'I think you have to realise for a young person in a day and age where social media is unbelievably vitriolic, some of the nasty language and labelling and name-calling I think goes over the edge,' Emma Hayes, her former Chelsea boss who is now in charge of the United States, said at the time.
'Then you add racism to that for her and you can understand why her mental health is not in the very best place for her this week. It reminds me very much of David Beckham in many ways when he got red-carded in the World Cup [against Argentina in 1998].'
Like Beckham, and Wayne Rooney after him, James also comes into this tournament with an injury issue hanging over her head. She missed the last three months of the Women's Super League – and a demoralising 8-2 aggregate defeat to Barcelona in the semi-final of the Champions League – with a hamstring injury but returned for a substitute appearance in the send-off game against Jamaica.
'We are not going to give you the line-up. She played 30 minutes last week and she can play more than that,' England boss Sarina Wiegman said ahead of their opener with France tonight.
England, of course, are the defending champions and had things gone differently for the Republic of Ireland in their play-off then it would be the Girls of Green instead of Wales in Group D along with the Netherlands.
For James, the Euros feels like it can be a spark to reignite something and help to create more special moments for a player who only turns 24 in September.
Like any footballer, even those with such immense gifts that James honed and crafted on her way to becoming a professional, her journey has been a demanding one.
She was not part of that trailblazing Lionesses squad that won Euro 2022, so there is not that same burden of being one of the defending champions. As it happens, a high profile glut of that group are not involved.
Mary Earps and Fran Kirby's retirements were viewed as a surprise while James' Chelsea teammate, captain Millie Bright, announced at the start of last month that she was withdrawing from the squad because it 'is the right thing for my health and my future.'
Bright has since undergone knee surgery. They are some of the clouds that linger for England, while James' own recovery from a hamstring injury and the ghosts of the World Cup means she has a different kind of burden to contend with.
It's unlikely to faze her. In an interview with The Beautiful Game podcast last year, her father, Nigel, recalled his daughter's time with Arsenal when she was 14 and too good to train with girls her own age.
So, she was promoted to the first team and after being entrusted to take a penalty in a game, senior players requested the following day that she be sent back to the academy.
Others may well have wilted after that, but James used it as fuel.
Now all of England needs her.
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