9 hours ago 2

Inspired James downs Dutch to kick-start England's Euros title defence

Lauren James made sure England avoided a major scare at Women's Euro 2025 with a brace in Wednesday's 4-0 thumping of the Netherlands which kick-started the Lionesses' title defence.

Chelsea star James opened the scoring with a rocket of a shot in the 22nd minute and added a third on the hour mark to cap a superb individual performance in Zurich, where England started the game at risk of elimination following defeat to France in their opening fixture.

James' hugely impressive performance, this time on the right flank, against the meek Dutch came in just her second appearance in a competitive fixture since suffering a hamstring injury in April.

The 23-year-old had been a doubt for the tournament but now looks to be approaching her best form after a shaky start to the tournament against France.

"I enjoyed it a lot. The goals say it all," James said to the BBC.

"We bounced back from our previous game and today we showed we're more than capable of showing the world what we can do.

"I just try do my best each game. Hopefully, as the games go on I keep getting more involved."

Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone scored the other goals as England swept the Dutch aside and moved level on three points with the Oranje and France, who face bottom team Wales later, in Group D.

"I'm very happy with the performance. I think we bounced back really well from France," coach Sarina Wiegman told reporters.

"The group conversations and how the team responded today was really good and I think we played well."

France will go top of the group as long as they don't suffer a shock defeat to Wales but qualification for the last eight will go to the final round of fixtures on Sunday.

That will suit England as Wiegman's team face Wales with the wind in their sails while France and the Netherlands face off in Basel with their tournament lives on the line.

- Dutch dominated -

And the Dutch are reeling from their worst ever defeat at a major tournament having never previously lost a match by more than one goal at a Euros.

Star striker Vivianne Miedema was left fighting for scraps and was then substituted one moments before Toone wrapped up the match.

"It is a heavy defeat and we didn't see it coming. We thought we would be able to compete. We wanted to win, we wanted to qualify directly for the quarter-finals," said Dutch coach Andries Jonker.

"We have to believe in our chances (against France). If not it's better not to show up."

England started fast like they did against the French and should have been ahead within 10 minutes as Alessia Russo and James, who was moved to the right wing to accomodate Toone in midfield, both missed excellent headed opportunities.

However James made up for her miss with a wonderful individual goal, collecting Russo's pass before shimmying inside and unleashing an unstoppable left-footed shot past Daphne van Domselaar.

The only criticism that could have been levelled at England is that they should have been further ahead early on after creating a clutch of opportunities against the strangely below-par opposition.

But Stanway made the scoreline reflect the balance of play in stoppage time at the end of the first half by drilling home from distance after the Dutch defence again failed to deal with a high ball.

Unlucky Russo had a neat headed goal ruled out for Leah Williamson straying offside almost immediately after the break, but James was on hand to seal the points with half an hour left to play, rolling home on the rebound after superb play down the right flank from Lauren Hemp.

Seven minutes later Toone completed the rout by drilling home low with her left foot and giving England the heavy win which boosted their hopes of reaching the next round.