Lauren James has broken her silence after she was sent off in the match between England and Nigeria on Monday.

The forward will miss at least the quarter-final match against Colombia on Saturday, August 12 after being sent off for deliberately standing on Nigeria defender Michelle Alozie.

On Tuesday, August 8, James replied to a tweet from Alozie which said she had “all respect for Lauren James.”

James, 21, took to Twitter to say: “All my love and respect to you. I am sorry for what happened.

“Also, for our England fans and my team-mates, playing with and for you is my greatest honour and I promise to learn from my experience.”

FIFA’s disciplinary committee will now decide James’ World Cup fate – they could extend James’ ban to three matches which would mean she would miss playing the rest of the tournament if the Lionesses reach a first-ever final.

The first red card of the competition was shown in the group stage to Nigeria’s Deborah Abiodun for her tackle on Canada’s Ashley Lawrence, who will join James at Chelsea after signing a three-year deal with the Blues on July 1.

Abiodun’s punishment was extended to three matches after she served the first game, so the same outcome for James, who boss Sarina Wiegman said “lost her emotions” in the incident, is a real possibility. 

England defender Lucy Bronze said she made a point of consoling an “upset” Lauren James after the match against Nigeria.