England 4 Holland 0: Lionesses bounce back from France defeat with Dutch demolition thanks to Lauren James double
Championship
defence going.
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6
England bounced back from defeat to France with a demolition of the Netherlands
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6
Lauren James bagged a brace thanks to first and second half goals
Credit: AFP
6
Georgia Stanway made it 2-0 in the second half
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A brace from
France
.
And
Georgia
Stanway and
Wales
.
The pressure was on holders
England
and
Another loss could potentially have ended their hopes of retaining the crown and meant Sunday's showdown with the Welsh could have been a dead rubber.
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But England will secure a place in the knockouts if they triumph in the Battle of Britain clash in St. Gallen after downing the Dutch.
Wiegman, who led her home nation, the
Netherlands
, to Euro joy in 2017, demanded a reaction after the 2-1 setback against the French.
Rather than get caught up in any hysteria, the experienced coach instead called for her troops to do their talking on the pitch. And they did just that.
England, with Toone in for
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Lauren Hemp's trickery down the left led to her putting it on a plate for
Holland survived that one, but they could do nothing to stop the genius of James moments later.
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The new Lionesses set to make their mark at the Women's Euro's as England kick off their title defence against France
The move started with goalkeeper Hannah Hampton picking out Russo with a brilliant low pass into her feet.
The 26-year-old
The
Chelsea
star, whose older brother Reece also plays for the Blues and England, is fast turning into
THE
key player for Wiegman.
She has eight goals and eight assists in her last 13 starts for her country and showed everybody why she is one of the first names on the team-sheet.
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James nearly returned the favour for Russo, but the latter could only flick her floated strike wide.
The pressure was mounting and they got their reward when Stanway rifled low into the bottom right corner from 25 yards before the break.
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Ella Toone put an exclamation mark on the victory in the 67th minute
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Alessia Russo bagged a hat-trick of assists against the Dutch
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The floodgates were open, and James could smell blood.
Pinball in the Dutch box led to Hemp's shot deflecting out to her, and she coolly slotted home from six yards for her second.
The Lionesses were still on the hunt and hungry for more, and they did not have to wait long to bite another chunk out of their completely outclassed opponents.
Russo made it a hat-trick of assists as she teed up best pal Toone to score the fourth.
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Finally, and perhaps mercifully for them, Holland did have something to smile about when James made way to a huge ovation late on.
Her work was done here. Now both she and England know the job in hand - beat
Wales
and it's off to the last-eight.
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