England beating the Netherlands means that if they win against Wales and France wins against the Netherlands, they are automatically qualified as the second-best in the group and will no longer need to rely on goal difference.
England played on guns blazing after an underwhelming and shocking defeat to France, scoring four past the Netherlands, Sarina Wiegman's previous employer.
This puts them in a favourable position and makes them less likely to rely on goal difference to get through, although they have a +3 goal difference. In contrast, their likely competitors for this game, the Netherlands, have a goal difference of -1.
Lauren James proved she is back at full fitness and showed that she is what England have been missing after not playing a game since april after a hamstring injury against Belgium she proved she has to start for her country.
Ella Toone was a shock of an exlcusion to the starting XI against France but she was brought in for this game due to England issues in the midfield and Beth Mead was on the bench.
Ella Toone made her impression and showed Sarina she should start as she scored a stunning strike dedicating it to her late father who passed in September and of course her bestie Alessi Russo assited her.
She scored two goals, while Alessia Russo scored a hat-trick of assists.
She did get a goal; however, her curse from the French game has continued, as it was ruled offside through Leah Williamson, but it was offside.
England had a point to prove after the criticism they recieved Georgia Stanway got a lot of stick and she did her talking on the pitch she described as the lionneses being back to ‘proper England’.
Ironically coming into this game there was a lot said about Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema facing each other from partners to enemies. Though they were not on the field of play at the same time.
England boss Sarina Wiegman to BBC Sport when asked what pleased her most about the performance: "The response of the team after the France game.
"I'm very happy with the score because it's a massive help because goal difference can make the difference.
"Also the days into this game, how we came together and looked into each others' eyes and said 'OK, what do we need to do?' and executing the game plan really helped.
"I also thought the Netherlands were struggling to keep up the levels so we did really well. I'm really proud of the team but we're not there yet. But this is an incredible response.
"I would not expect 4-0, absolutely not. First you want to win and you have to win, and if you can win by more than two goals, then you know you're almost in the best position going into the Wales game."
England's Georgia Stanway told BBC Sport:
"I think it [her goal] took a little deflection, I'll have to watch it back, but I'm just happy to have made it 2-0.
"Once we got to 3-0, we could settle a little bit because once we opened the doors and they get one back, you never know what can happen.
"This was about showing who we are and we're ready to go back to proper England. We fought from the first minute to the very last."
England's Lauren James to BBC Sport: "I enjoyed it a lot. The goals say it all. We bounced back from our previous game and today we showed we're more than capable of showing what we can do.
"As long as I'm helping the team in any way I can, whether that's providing for scoring, I try to do my best in each game. Hopefully as the games keep going on, hopefully I can be more involved."
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