Lauren James ‘doesn't want to hurt anyone’ after seeing red for stamp in Women's World Cup - Sarina Wiegman

Sarina Wiegman does not believe Lauren James intended to harm Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie by stamping on her during England’s Women’s World Cup last-16 win - and expects her to learn a "huge lesson" from the incident.

England scraped through to the quarter-finals on penalties following a goalless draw in Brisbane.

In the 87th minute, James stamped on Alozie after the pair tussled on the floor following a tackle.

James was originally booked by referee Melissa Borjas before the official was guided by VAR to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.

The yellow card was quickly upgraded to red and James was given her marching orders.

After the game, England manager Wiegman said James “doesn't want to harm anyone” and expects the 21-year-old to learn from it.

"This was a moment, it was a split second, it was later in the game, so players also get a little tired,” said Wiegman.

“She’s an inexperienced player on this stage, and she’s done really well, and I think in a split second she just lost her emotions. Of course she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she’s the sweetest person I know, and yeah, things happen like that.

“You can’t change it any more, it’s a huge lesson to learn, but of course it’s not something she’s done on purpose.

“I’ve spoken to her. I actually said what I’ve just said. Look, that happens sometimes with human beings, that they are in such an intense game and such a high-intensity, emotional game, and in a split second she lost her emotions.

“Of course she apologised and she felt really, really bad. But absolutely, she doesn’t want to hurt anyone.”

Former England striker Ellen White was less sympathetic towards James following the incident.

"It's disappointing, she was frustrated during the game," she said on the BBC. "There was no need for it.

"This will galvanise England, they need to come together now."

James - whose World Cup could now be over depending on the outcome of a review by a FIFA disciplinary panel - scored three goals and claimed three assists during the group stages.

Despite losing James late on in normal time, Wiegman could not hide her delight that her team, with a player disadvantage, dug deep and managed to qualify.

“Lots of things are going through my head,” she explained. “The first thing is we stuck together as a team.

“Of course, it was a very, very hard game. Then we had the red card, we stuck together and made it through extra time then we won on penalties. How we did that as a team, and how the team [kept] going, I’m so proud of them.

“[The win] says so much about this team, like I just said I am so proud of them. Not one game has been easy and we knew, before this game that it wasn’t going to be an easy game.

“They are very organised and very transitional, they’re very physical and athletic, and that’s exactly what we saw. We made it through, I’m really happy.”

England will face either Colombia or Jamaica in the quarter-finals and one player that could make an impact is Chloe Kelly, who fired home the penalty to book England’s spot in the next round.

Much like Wiegman, Kelly was full of praise for her England team-mates.

“It’s amazing, anything that's thrown at us, we show what we’re capable of,” she said. “We dig deep. We dig deep as a group and we believe in our ability, and first and foremost, we believe in what we’re told to do.

“This team is special. We did it in the Euros, we did it in the Finalissima, and we’re here again tonight and doing it.

“We keep pushing forward. There’s more to come from this special team.”

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