England coach Sarina Wiegman admits Lauren James has a ‘massive lesson to learn’ after the red card against Nigeria… as she says she ‘aged 10 years’ after thrilling World Cup win

Sarina Wiegman said she was ’10 years older’ after England beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties to progress to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in the most intense game of her career.

The Lionesses were firm favorites to prevail in Monday’s last 16, but had to overcome Lauren James’ red card in the 87th minute for a nerve-wracking period of extra time.

James saw red for stepping on Nigerian Michelle Alozie in an act of irritability. Wiegman said the assailant had apologised, but she “had no intention of hurting anyone.”

‘I spoke to her. I actually said (to her), “look, that happens to people sometimes,” that they’re in such an intense game and such an intense, emotional game, and in a split second, she lost her emotions.

“Of course she apologized and she felt really, really bad. She definitely doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

“This was a moment, it was a split second, it was later in the game, so players are getting a bit tired too. She is an inexperienced performer on this stage and she has done very well.

“I think she lost her emotions in a split second. Of course she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she’s the sweetest person I know. Things like that happen, you can’t change it, it’s a huge lesson to learn, but of course it’s not something she did on purpose.’

Chloe Kelly scored the winning penalty to send England through and Wiegman admitted she had not seen such an intense encounter in her managerial career.

“I don’t know anything about my heart rate, I just know I’m ten years older,” Wiegman said. “It was a very intense match.

‘Nothing is easy in this tournament, that’s also very exciting about this tournament, you can see that the women’s game has improved so much.

“You saw it in the group stage, so many games were drawn and it’s not the expected teams that have won all the time. In fact, I haven’t played many matches as intense as this one tonight.’

James will receive an automatic one match ban for her red card, but it is likely that this will be increased to three, with FIFA rules stating more games can be imposed after review. The board said a decision will be made in due course.

Wiegman is already without a number of high-profile players at this tournament, including Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby. Keira Walsh returned from injury to start yesterday’s game, but was sent off with a cramp in extra time.

When asked if she’s ever had so many problems during her career, Wiegman said: ‘No, I’ve never had so many problems, but of course it’s my job to think of things that can happen in a match, or in a tournament, or before a tournament, so you try to flip every stone and come up with the solution before it happens and today we are completely tested on those stones!’