Sometimes there are moments in football that appear to render everything else obsolete. A split second is all it takes, time freezes, and it is as if everything else is wiped from reality. The magnitude of the rest of the highs and lows matters little; one event reduces them to minutiae.
For England that event was Keira Walsh’s injury. A stadium – and a nation back home – were sickened by what they’d seen. Her foot was awkwardly planted, her knee extended and a stretcher was brought on as her teammates embarked on futile attempts to console her.
Walsh’s injury became the talking point and the incident that overshadowed the rest. Somehow, it was as if Lauren James’ brilliance hadn’t occurred. The star of the show had lost her shine.
Six minutes was all it took for the 21-year-old to announce herself and show why she was the solution to issues that have plagued the Lionesses for far too long. Sarina Wiegman had bemoaned England’s lack of ruthlessness after a penalty provided England’s only goal in their opening game against Haiti; James heeded the message.
Up she stepped on the edge of Denmark’s box. She’d already had her fun toying with them on the wing, now it was time to go through the middle. A glance over her shoulder revealed a possible trajectory, the lightest of touches readied the ball, and she made sure the execution was there to guide it home.
It dipped and curled into the top-right corner of Lene Christiansen’s goal. Nothing would’ve been able to stop its laser-sharp accuracy. England had waited since April to find a goal from open play and what a goal it was when it finally came.
“She’s unbelievable, it was a great finish today,” said teammate Chloe Kelly. “We see that every day in training, we can’t get the ball off her feet. When she strikes it like that there is not a keeper in the world who is saving it.”
There has been an uneasy feeling surrounding this team going into the World Cup. Where do the goals come from without Beth Mead? Who is there to create chances without Fran Kirby? Who will be the leader with Leah Williamson injured?
The burden of those questions will continue to hang over the Lionesses for much of the rest of this tournament but they may now at least be some of the way to finding answers to the first two.
James’ importance comes both in her ability in front of goal and her strength sitting behind the attacking line, linking play and orchestrating her team’s forward moves.
At times in recent matches England have resorted to predictability, playing it out to the wings and crossing the ball back into the middle in the hope that they might just get lucky. James, however, immediately changed that – opting to take players on instead of aimlessly passing has been a breath of fresh air.
“She can do something special, she can be that player for us,” said midfielder Laura Coombs. “We’ve got a load of attacking talent but her close ball control is different to anyone else.”
Sitting in the stands of the Sydney Football Stadium there was a sense that Wiegman had finally found the key to a lock that had been preventing the team from reaching their full potential.
“We really thought we needed players in the pockets,” said Wiegman of her reason for selecting the 21-year-old. Her choice looks to have been merited.
While Lauren Hemp can be a threat when charging at defenders, using her pace to try and find breakthroughs and send deliveries towards the head of Alessia Russo, James is different. Speed isn’t at the forefront of her game – she knows when taking her time is the right option.
Take the technique for her goal, for example. It took only a fraction of a second but she stopped to observe the game and set up a composed effort at goal rather than getting caught up in the need to play at breakneck speed. That mental switch, the moment where being measured and considerate in her decision-making was placed at the forefront of her mind, made all the difference.
Striker Bethany England summed it up clearly: “she produces magic moments like that and that’s exactly why she’s in this team.”
On Monday it will be exactly a year since England lifted the European Championship trophy and a lot has changed in that time. Jill Scott and Ellen White have both retired while injuries have decimated the spine of the team. This side may bear the same name and many similar hallmarks to last year but in truth it’s a different outfit.
England are in a period of transition after last year’s victory and while James’ talent is still raw at times she has laid down a marker and shown that she should be an integral part of what comes next.
The immediate future takes priority over thinking about the long-term changes to this side yet the immediate future is where she could be most important.
With Walsh absent the hurdles of this World Cup become even more difficult to overcome. Games will be harder to win and the mental cloud of losing the team’s core will be even more testing. It may very well come down to individual actions to make all the difference and in that regard Wiegman can now rest assured that her players are capable.
Whether James is best on the wing – where she played in the Denmark victory – or in the middle, more directly filling the void left by Kirby’s injury, is up for debate, but she’s a welcome addition wherever she plays.
It will take a little more for England to get out of the group. What is increasingly certain is that James is going to be needed if they are going to succeed in going much further.
