England star Lauren James will not be playing for England for the next two matches depending on the result of the semi-final clash against Colombia after she was slammed with a two-match ban by FIFA for her ‘wild stamp’ on Super Falcons Michelle Alozie.
The Chelsea forward was shown a red card in the round-16 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup game between Nigeria and England in Brisbane on Monday after she stamped on the defender intentionally, reducing the Lionesses to ten men although they went on to win the tie through penalties.
There were initial fears England’s top scorer would miss the rest of the tournament after being sent off albeit FIFA’s disciplinary committee has ruled that James’ actions were deemed as ‘serious foul play’, rather than violent conduct which results in a two-game ban with violent conduct offenses getting an automatic three-game suspension.
An official FIFA statement read: “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has imposed a two-match suspension on England’s player Lauren James following a violation of article 14 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code at the FIFA Women’s World Cup match England vs Nigeria.”
“The suspension will be served for the FIFA Women’s World Cup quarter-final and the next international fixture following that.”
It means James who has scored three goals in four games, would be eligible to play in the final or third/ fourth place play-off if England reach that stage of the tournament.
