Sarina Wiegman cut an anxious but pragmatic figure after England’s 1-0 victory over Denmark was marred by a serious-looking injury to Keira Walsh. The 26-year-old Barcelona player, the linchpin of the Lionesses’ midfield, went down in the 35th minute under no contact and was taken off on a stretcher before returning to watch the second half on crutches.
“Of course I’m concerned because she couldn’t walk off the pitch,” Wiegman said. “But we don’t know yet, so we can’t make any assumptions. Let’s just wait until we have a diagnosis and then we can tell you.”
Walsh was stretching to intercept a pass when she sustained the injury to her right knee. Three England players were ruled out of the World Cup because of knee injuries: Leah Williamson and Beth Mead, with anterior cruciate ligament injuries, and Fran Kirby. Walsh’s departure forced Wiegman into a reshuffle and led to a major tournament debut for Manchester City’s midfielder Laura Coombs, who had not played for England for eight years until February.
“Georgia Stanway dropped back and Laura came in,” Wiegman said. “Of course, we had to find our feet a little bit … We dominated the first half. Then Keira went out and we had to adapt to the situation. In the second half Denmark had such a direct style of play. We showed we can fight and the team showed real resilience. We kept it to 1-0 so it was good and I’m really proud of the team.
“We were not upset. We just had to find our feet. Of course, it’s not nice when a player goes off the pitch in that way. But we also know unfortunately, these things happen sometimes in football, and you just have to move on. You are in the World Cup and you want to win the game.”
It had been a bright start from the Lionesses, who were looking to improve on an unconvincing performance in their victory over Haiti. Lauren James, one of two changes to the starting lineup, made an impact from the start and announced herself with a stunning goal in the sixth minute.
With England in control, they threatened to extend their lead but the injury to Walsh visibly shocked the team. They struggled to regain their early confidence but defended well to secure three points, surviving a big scare when Amalie Vangsgaard struck the bar.
“We started off really well,” Coombs said. “We were shaken by losing Keira but we needed a win. We just needed to keep that one-goal lead and that’s what we did. You want to be on the pitch [but] you don’t want to come on in those circumstances. But I’m happy to be on and try and do my best for the team.”
Rachel Daly continued the messages of support to her injured teammate. “She is a special player and a special person,” she said. “Let’s hope it isn’t as bad as it looked.”
Denmark’s manager, Lars Søndergaard, expressed sympathy for Walsh and outlined her importance when he said: “That could also be a reason why we came back into the game, because she was not there.”
He was pleased with his side’s recovery after conceding early. “It upset us a little bit,” he said. “We were then on the back foot. England got confidence through this beautiful goal. We grew into the game … If we had been good enough or precise enough, we could have punished them before half-time due to some counterattacks. In the second half we went out playing with a little bit more confidence and we saw that England got a little insecure … I’m happy with the way we ended the game and in I would say we did very well against a good England team.”
