England women's path to the Women's World Cup final: Here's how the Lionesses' route is starting to look

England women's path to the Women's World Cup final: Here's how the Lionesses' route is starting to look: Lauren James of England celebrates after scoring her team's fourth goal during the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group D match between China and England at Hindmarsh Stadium on August 01, 2023 in Adelaide, Australia.
(Image credit: Naomi Baker - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

England’s 6-1 thrashing of China in their final Group D match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup has set up a second-round clash with Nigeria for the Lionesses. 

While all the talk in the build-up was of a route for Sarina Wiegman’s side that would potentially facing one of co-hosts Australia or Olympic champions Canada, followed by a quarter-final rematch of last year’s Euro 2022 final against Germany, it hasn’t worked out that way at all. 

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Rich Laverty has been a women’s football writer for a decade now, covering the game across the FA WSL, several FA Cup finals and live from the 2017 European Championships and 2019 World Cup. He has written regularly for publications in the UK and USA, including The Times, Guardian, Independent, iSport, FourFourTwo, Bleacher Report, The Blizzard, These Football Times and Our Game Magazine.