Keira Walsh: relieved at rapid recovery after knee injury
England hasn’t quite found their groove in the 2023 Women’s World Cup – something fans will be hoping to be in place for the next game.
The first match against Haiti was tough, but many chalked it up to so tournament nerves.
The second match against Norway – the hardest in the group – also saw a 1-0 win for England, but it was a game in which the team’s key player Keira Walsh was stretchered off with a knee injury.
Many thought the worst – a dreaded ACL injury – that’s already seen so many key England players miss this world cup.
Fans tuned in for England’s final group game – against China with concern about whether the team could make it through. Two scrappy wins and the loss of Walsh seemed to dampen the mood.
But England boss Sarina Wiegman switched it up. With a new formation, a burst of energy, England played an incredible game. The Lionesses won 6-1 but most importantly it felt like they had officially announced their arrival at the world cup.
And before the Round of 16 match against Nigeria, the fans received great news – Walsh was back in training and likely to return to the pitch.
It’s no wonder then, why fans expected a lot more from the match. Though no one thought it would be easy, England’s inability to get on the ball for long enough to make any meaningful attempts had us all worried.
And then another shock, the Nigeria game saw England’s star player Lauren James shown a red card.
But as Lucy Bronze said – this England squad has the ability to find a way to win.
It’s not been easy, it’s certainly not been pretty but England keep winning. They’ve so far only conceded one goal and are confident on penalties.
‘I wasn’t worried about my ACL’
Walsh spoke to BBC Sport saying she wasn’t worried about her injury when it happened.
“Obviously a lot of high profile players have them [ACL] so it’s in the media a lot,” Walsh said. “When I went down, I wasn’t too worried about my ACL. Everyone in the media was but straight away I knew it wasn’t; it was a different pain.
“In these tournaments, you know one injury and you could miss the rest of the games, but England have such a good medical team and turn it around quickly, and luckily I was back on the pitch after 10 days.”
Following her sending off, James – who has three goals for England at the Women’s World Cup so far – apologised, saying she would learn from the experience.
‘She’s a massive loss’
“She’s disappointed,” Walsh added. “She made a mistake but she apologised to team after the game and apologised on social media to the girl.
“It was really out of character for her. We were all surprised. We’ve got to get round her best we can and support her.”
On Lauren James’s absence from the quarter-final against Colombia, Walsh added: “She’s a massive loss. You can see she has massive moments in her and can change the game at a switch.
“But there are 22 players now and we have to focus on that. We have to focus on Colombia with the team we’ve got.”
2023 Women’s World Cup
The 2023 edition of the tournament has been the best yet. It’s truly shown the growth of the women’s game globally. Four-time winners, the US were knocked out in the Round of 16, and two-time winners Germany failed to make it out of the group stages – along with the likes of Brazil, Italy, China and Canada. Only a handful of Fifa’s top 10 ranked teams remain in the competition and nations with less of a profile in women’s football have announced themselves in the best way.
Japan are the only team currently in the competition who have won the world cup before. There’s a chance a new name will finally be added to the trophy.
It’s great to see how far the women’s game has come.
Come on England!