England boss Sarina Wiegman lauded the Lionesses’ adaptability after a system shake-up sparked a thumping 6-1 victory over China at the Women’s World Cup. The Lionesses had not scored more than once in their opening two matches but came alive on a crisp night in front of 13,497 at Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium to seal top spot in Group D. Wiegman took a gamble as she swapped England’s usual 4-3-3 for a 3-5-2 formation, and she was rewarded with goals from five different players including a brace from Chelsea prodigy Lauren James, who also picked up three assists. “I think we are growing into this tournament,” said Wiegman, whose side will travel back to their Terrigal, New South Wales base camp before flying to Brisbane to meet Nigeria in the knockout stages. “I think tonight we had a great performance. Of course we made a choice and went for it. “Everyone really believed in it [the formation] straight away and you could see that on the pitch. They were really excited about it. We want to use the qualities of the squad as optimal as possible. The team showed they were really adaptable. “I think you could see from the whole team that we were enjoying ourselves, you could tell that we were really connected, the ball is going around and we have different ways to go in attack, and of course Lauren James was one of them when she scored the goals. “You saw that the team was enjoying every goal, except the one from China.” Alessia Russo got things started for England after just four minutes, while a dangerous-looking Lauren Hemp marked her return to Wiegman’s starting XI by doubling England’s advantage. James struck her first after 41 minutes, but was denied a retrospective hat-trick after Australian referee Casey Reibelt turned to VAR and the stoppage-time strike was chalked off. Lucy Bronze, who was ruled offside in that build-up, found herself at the wrong end of another call to the monitor after the restart and was aggrieved when she was punished for a handball and China were awarded a penalty, converted by Wang Shuang. Chloe Kelly and Rachel Daly wrapped up the victory with late strikes. Bronze said: “I knew it hit my hand, but it wasn’t deliberate. “Unless I cut my arm off I don’t know how I get my arm out the way. Again, we sit down with referees every tournament to discuss the rules, the rules are if I’m trying to put my hand next to my body. “I said to the girls she’s going to give the penalty because it hits my hand but [England keeper] Mary [Earps] was behind me, if I was trying to hit the ball away I would have hit my hand in the air. I knew it wasn’t deliberate but I guess she just wanted to give me a yellow card for fun. Hopefully I can continue doing that and take it into the next round Lauren James “It wasn’t a fun game in that respect, the referee for me. So, I was quite disappointed with that game to come off with that performance. The most important thing is we won, we’re through to the next game, no one else got injured.” James, who became the first England player to be directly involved in five or more goals in a game at the men’s or women’s World Cup, admitted it would have been the icing on the cake to complete the hat-trick. She said: “I was disappointed in the moment obviously but that’s football for you. In the moment I just had to be focused for the game to continue. “I think just playing with freedom, just enjoying my football and I think tonight showed that. Hopefully I can continue doing that and take it into the next round.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live There’s nothing to it – Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on Kylian Mbappe loan link It’s what dreams are made of – Lauren James ‘buzzing’ as England reach last 16 Willie Peters to spare star Hull KR players against Wigan with cup final in mind

Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min plays down talk that he's competing with former teammate Harry Kane in terms of goals scored. Son currently has eight Premier League strikes to his name while Kane has nine in the Bundesliga.

The numbers being put up by NFL wide receivers these days are astonishing. There have been some amazing performances throughout football history.There may be no deeper position in the NFL these days than wide receiver. Players come out of college wind up being immediate impact performers. It&rsq...

Newly acquired midfield star Declan Rice came on as a second-half substitute and helped Arsenal finish off a 5-0 victory over the MLS All-Stars

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is still looking for answers to their penalty problem after Luis Palma missed from 12 yards in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell. The Hoops missed three penalties last season and Palma followed David Turnbull and Reo Hatate in missing from the spot since Rodgers returned. Turnbull did convert a penalty in the 86th minute after Palma went off, but Jonathan Obika headed a last-minute equaliser. Palma scored from the spot against Aberdeen last time out, but Liam Kelly dived to his right to parry in the 66th minute and deny Celtic a platform to look for further goals. Rodgers said: “I was looking before I came in here that there have been a number of penalties missed. “These are decisive moments in games and you have to be ready to take them. You are never always going to be three, four, five up in games. You get that opportunity, you have to take it. “It is something that the players who are going to be the penalty takers are working on every day. “We have to stay focused on that because it is a skill. You can’t replicate the pressure, but penalties are a skill and a skill we have to be better at. “The keeper’s made a decent save. It’s all about variety with penalty takers. I know he practised (on Friday), he didn’t go that side, he was working on the keeper’s left. “But that is the choice he made. He is brave enough to take them.” Rodgers felt the cinch Premiership leaders were missing “that little bit of freshness and zip in the final third” as they moved nine points ahead of Rangers, who have two games in hand. He added: “We should win the game. Obviously we had enough of the ball. We got into a lot of good areas and obviously (had) chances to be more comfortable. It is always a danger when you are not. “But credit to Motherwell, they defended really well and we never had enough to break them down. “But when we did get the opportunity to go in front then every moment after that is a decisive one. I think it was probably their only effort in the second half and we never defended it, which was a surprise because we have been defending set-pieces well.” Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell did not feel Celtic should have had a second penalty after Calum Butcher was penalised for holding Mikey Johnston. Kettlewell attended a meeting with the Scottish Football Association’s referees department on Thursday where it was explained that such incidents would only be punished if the attacking player has a chance of getting on the ball. He said: “If the officials are telling me something when I go and sit for two-and-a-half hours with chief executives and managers when that exact incident came up in one of the clips and there were conversations around whether the player was going to get on the end of it and whether every contact in the box is a penalty. “From the angle I’ve seen Calum Butcher is adamant he didn’t pull the jersey. His palm is resting on the waist. “The guys from Celtic will maybe think it’s justified, but I think it’s incredibly soft.” It was only Motherwell’s third point from 10 games and Kettlewell said: “It indicates to everyone how together we are as a football club and a group of players. They gave us absolutely everything out there. “A lot of people will say we should be looking to be more progressive and to create more chances in the game. Well, that was everything that I asked of the players. “Of course we want to try to win games, but to concede that second penalty and go behind we showed brilliant personality and character to get ourselves back into the game.” Read More Mauricio Pochettino angry as ‘soft’ Chelsea fall apart at Newcastle Brighton boss explains ‘big, big celebration’ and says no disrespect was meant Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola full of praise for two-goal Marcus Tavernier Joe Root joins England captain Ben Stokes in skipping next Indian Premier League Ding Junhui defies illness to defeat defending champion Mark Allen in York No cause for a party, Rob Edwards warns Luton after victory over Palace

Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras has been playing better this past week -- but can he keep up the production come the trade deadline in August?One week after Willson Contreras admitted his confidence in the big leagues was shot, the three-time All-Star is ramping up his production for the dow...

Why Real Madrid could make a huge profit if Real Sociedad sell winger Takefusa Kubo this summer.

Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali is facing a hefty ban from football due to bets he placed while playing for former club AC Milan.

La Rochelle launched a stunning fightback from 17-0 down to edge out Leinster 27-26 and retain the Champions Cup in a dramatic...

Olivia Dunne shared six pictures of herself donning different gymnastics outfits and gave each a rating

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 19, 2023--

Fiji were below par but came from behind to beat Georgia 17-12 on Saturday and stay on course for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals, a result that pushed...