Simon Collings reviews England vs Denmark

Simon Collings reviews England's 1-0 win over Denmark in this evening's World Cup match.

Transcript

00:00 You join me here outside the stadium in Sydney and it's a pretty weird mood to be honest.

00:07 England are 2 from 2 at this World Cup. They're in the last 16 of the tournament but the atmosphere

00:15 is pretty flat to be honest with you. The news that everyone is talking about is Kiera

00:19 Walsh. I think when Lauren James Curl won in six minutes into this match we all thought

00:23 she was the person we're going to be talking about tonight but instead it's Kiera Walsh.

00:27 It looks like a very serious knee injury. She was reaching for a pass in midfield, knee

00:32 buckled underneath her and it was instantaneously that she turned to the bench and said 'I've

00:37 got to come off'. Taken off on a stretcher, close to tears. For England that is absolutely

00:43 huge. You cannot underestimate how important Kiera Walsh is to this team. She makes them

00:48 tick. We actually spoke to her earlier on this week round table with a few journalists

00:52 and many of us came away from that saying 'what a leader she is'. So there's that element

00:55 as well. It's going to be a real, real headache for what Serena Wiegman does if Walsh is out

01:01 for the rest of the tournament, which is the fear at the moment everyone has. It's going

01:06 to be a big change in system. I don't think you can like for like replace what Kiera Walsh

01:10 brings with anyone in the world, let alone someone in this England squad. So it's going

01:15 to be a lot of thinking for Wiegman to do but the positives that she will take from

01:19 this is that her changes did work. Alex Greenwood in the heart of defence was excellent, bringing

01:24 the ball out, playing out from the back. Rachel Daly at left back looked good going forward

01:28 and Lauren James was the star of the night. I think for England going forward she will

01:34 be a big, big player, even more so now if Kiera Walsh isn't in this team.

01:38 [END]

01:39 Duration: 2 minutes 43 seconds

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