England winger Chloe Kelly has dismissed concerns the pitch was too dry when Keira Walsh injured her knee against Denmark.
Walsh was stretchered off around 10 minutes before half-time of England’s 1-0 win over Group D opponents Denmark, which put them on the cusp of reaching the knockout stage of this World Cup.
In the wake of the injury, Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall, who is working on the BBC as a pundit during the tournament, said the pitch looked “very dry”.
“You could see on the movement when Keira Walsh went to slide with the right foot that it stops, and then the knee twists,” he said.
“In the celebration for the England goal Lauren James tried to knee slide, but she stopped [almost instantly] and fell over.
“In the moment it looks funny, but if you stop and you think about it, it is a danger to player welfare to have such a dry pitch. It is not good enough.”
Eidevall has been critical of pitches before, complaining about them in the wake of England captain Leah Williamson rupturing her ACL in April.
But asked about if the pitch was too dry for England’s game against Denmark at the Sydney Football Stadium, Kelly said: “I didn’t notice that, I thought it was quite wet to be honest.”
