Hopes rise that Kira Walsh's injury is not as serious as feared

Kyra Walsh walked off the field on a stretcher and crutches after suffering a knee injury during England's World Cup victory over Denmark Credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

England breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday after learning that Kira Walsh did not suffer a serious ACL injury during Friday's victory over Denmark in the Women's World Cup.

< p>Walsh, the world's most expensive soccer player was seen in tears as she was carried off the pitch on a stretcher during a 1-0 win that brought the Liones to the brink of qualifying for the round of 16.

There were immediate concerns that a 26-year-old girl had injured the cruciate ligament of the cruciate ligaments, given the unpleasant nature of the injury.

However, Telegraph Sport reported on Saturday that Walsh's scan showed no signs of such damage, which would be a huge relief for the Barcelona midfielder.

The chances of her playing again in this World Cup remain low. however, the FA is still evaluating the extent of the damage.

The FA subsequently released a statement saying: «Following a scan late Saturday night, we can confirm that Kira Walsh did not have an anterior cruciate ligament injury.» .

The concern is that Walsh instead injured her medial knee ligaments, but the initial evaluation of the scan is unclear.

The FA does not want to exclude the Barcelona midfielder from the remainder of the World Cup at this stage, but it will miss the final group game against China on Tuesday and will be in big question in next week's round of 16 game.

The statement added: «Walsh has been excluded from Tuesday's Group D final match against China PR in Adelaide and will remain on the English Terrigal base to continue its recovery.

“Her knee injury will continue to be evaluated. England Medical Staff and no further information is available at this stage.

Recovery from any knee ligament injury usually takes weeks, not days.

Given its importance to the team, it is likely that Walsh would be allowed to stay with the team and rehabilitate her.

Speaking after Friday's match, England manager Sarina Wigman said: We don't know yet, so we can't make any assumptions. Let's just wait until we actually have a diagnosis and then we can tell you.

“Of course it's not good when a player leaves the field like that, but we also know, unfortunately, that sometimes things like this happen. in football, and you just have to move on, you're at the World Cup. You want to win this game, so we really needed to adapt to the new situation as quickly as possible, that's what we did.»