Sarina Wiegman has refused to confirm whether Keira Walsh could play any further role in the World Cup after the midfielder sustained a knee injury in England’s 1-0 win against Denmark. The Football Association said on Saturday that Walsh did not have an anterior cruciate ligament injury but there has been no update.
Walsh did not travel to Adelaide for England’s final group game against China at the Hindmarsh Stadium on Tuesday. “We said that it’s not an ACL, I can’t give you any more information,” Wiegman said. “We are only focusing on the game tomorrow. After that we will continue.
“We have a strong enough team, every game we want to be at our best. We know she’s not available. We have a group of 23 so now we have a group of 22. We have our solutions – and we’ll show that.”
Wiegman was asked whether – with Walsh, Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Fran Kirby and Ellen White missing from the starting XI at the European Championships last year – this was when she really earns her keep. “It’s not nice to lose players, firstly for them and secondly for the team. But we’re here to move on. It’s not nice but we have to adapt and find a way. We will have 11 players on the pitch who we think can win the game.”
England need a point against China to win Group D and secure a last-16 tie against Nigeria. China and Denmark are on the same points, goal difference and number of goals scored with Denmark ranked higher based on their head-to-head record, having defeated China 1-0. If China beat England and Denmark beat Haiti, all three will finish on six points. The team who finish second will face Australia.
England laboured to 1-0 wins against Haiti and Denmark and Wiegman said they must keep possession better. “We had moments in both games where we played really well and moments where we lost the ball too much. We want to keep the passing game in a good place and try to create chances to score goals. That’s the main thing – to keep control of the game as much as possible – because sometimes that’s really hard.”
Without Walsh, England will look very different as the midfielder has been absent only three times during Wiegman’s tenure. China’s manager, Shui Qingxia, said: “We will engage in formation and tactics that we are familiar with. We might be more adventure-taking or we might be more conservative.” China have not scored against a European side and need at least two goals against England to reach the last 16.
Their captain, Wang Shanshan, said: “Team China, over the past few years, partly owing to the pandemic, has not engaged with many friendly matches, especially with our European friends. The rhythm and fast pace is something we need to learn from our opponents to narrow the gap.” Shui added: “If we want to demonstrate our very best in more matches we need to have more friendly or higher-level warm-up matches.”
