Lauren James shines as England thrashes Netherlands 4-0 to revive Euro title defense

ZURICH — A ''proper'' England performance saw the Lionesses get the defense of their Women's European Championship title firmly back on track with a 4-0 win over the Netherlands on Wednesday, thanks to a Lauren James double.

James showed precisely why she had been selected despite not having played for more than two months when the squad was announced in June because of injury. The Chelsea forward was at the heart of England's attacks and scored a sumptuous opener in the 22nd minute before netting her side's third on the hour mark.

James has been directly involved in 16 goals in her last 13 starts for England, with eight goals and eight assists.

Georgia Stanway doubled England's lead on the stroke of halftime and Ella Toone wrapped up the result in the 67th as the Lionesses gave the perfect response to their 2-1 defeat to France.

‘Proper England'

"This is about showing who we are,'' Stanway told the BBC. ''We want to go back to proper England. LJ (Lauren James) set the tone with that goal and we all just followed.''

Player-of-the-match Alessia Russo elaborated.

''I think proper English to us just means we'll work hard, we'll work until we can't run anymore, we stick together,'' she said. "That's our standard and our DNA as a team and we definitely saw that today from the first minute right until the end.

''(We) probably could have scored even more as well ... it was definitely something that we wanted to return to and we know that we're capable of performances like that.''

It was a far more positive performance from England than against France, when it became the first titleholder to lose its opening match at a women's Euros.

The manner of that defeat was as disappointing as the result, which left England facing possible elimination if it lost to the Netherlands and France avoided a shock defeat against Wales later Wednesday.

England plays Wales in their final group match on Sunday, when the Netherlands faces France.

''We have to believe in our chances,'' Netherlands coach Andries Jonker said. "If not it's better not to show up.

Timid and toothless

The Netherlands, which beat Wales 3-0 in their opener, had never previously lost a match at a major tournament by more than a single goal — apart from the 2019 World Cup final.

''It is a heavy defeat and we didn't see it coming," Jonker said. "We thought we would be able to compete.

''We wanted to win, we wanted to qualify directly for the quarterfinals. But I really don't care this is the heaviest defeat ever.''

The Dutch appeared timid and toothless against a rampant England side. Sarina Wiegman's team dominated from the start against her native Netherlands and had two good chances in the opening 10 minutes with James and Russo both heading narrowly wide.

England took a deserved lead in stunning fashion.

Russo ran onto a long kick from goalkeeper Hannah Hampton and surged forward before cutting it back to James, who carved out some space on the edge of the area before lashing a fierce strike into the top right corner.

It was only James' third appearance since injuring her hamstring in April and the 23-year-old was again involved when England doubled its lead in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.

The Dutch defense failed to clear her free kick properly and the ball came out to Stanway for a low drive into the bottom left corner from 20 yards.

England thought it had extended its advantage shortly after the break but Russo's header was ruled out as Leah Williamson was offside in the buildup.

England did get a third on the hour mark. Lauren Hemp did well on the right flank and whipped in a cross for Toone. Her shot was blocked but James tucked away the rebound.

Toone did get her goal seven minutes later with a precise strike into the bottom right corner.

James was given a standing ovation by the England fans when she was substituted moments after her side's fourth goal.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer