England’s World Cup rocked by veteran’s ‘devastating’ injury

England donned black armbands as they paid homage to the passing of English football great Trevor Francis after he passed away during the week aged 69 after suffering a heart attack.

Weigman would have asked for a more dominant and energetic performance from her team.

This was quickly answered as England started on the front foot from the opening whistle. Their aggression and movement pinned the Danish team who struggled to deal with an English team determined to stamp their authority on the tournament.

England’s fast start was duly rewarded in the 6th minute as Lauren James cut in from the left and curled an exquisite shot past the flailing arms of Danish goalkeeper Lene Christensen.

It was James’ first World Cup goal as she justified the faith shown in her by Weigman to hand her a first World Cup start.

Chloe Kelly nearly made it two for England as her acrobatic bicycle kick looped over the bar in the 9th minute as the Danes failed to clear their lines. England’s eagerness to utilise the width and allow wide players James and Kelly to isolate their defenders continued to cause headaches for the Danish defence as England looked to get behind on more than one occasion.

The dominance of England was highlighted by the passing statistics inside the first 15 minutes – England completed 100 passes compared to Denmark’s 16.

But England failed to capitalise on that dominance and Denmark held firm. They created their first opportunity in the 24th minute when Marie Rikke Madsen turned delightfully in the box, only to flash her shot across the goal of England keeper Mary Earp.

Denmark continued to hold a threat on the counterattack as the half wore on with England’s forward press leaving them exposed at times. England full back Lucy Bronze had a great chance to extend the lead, but she saw her header loop over after a lovely flighted cross from Chloe Kelly in the 31st minute.

England’s lack of a cutting edge kept the Danes in the game even after a succession of corners to begin the second half.

Chances continued to come England’s way as first midfielder Ella Toone couldn’t keep her effort down while a dazzling run from Alessio Russo failed to end in a goal after her shot flashed wide.

Denmark’s persistence nearly paid off late in the second half. First, Earps pulled off a fingertip save to deny Katrine Veje. while substitute Amalie Vangsgaard saw her 87th minute header crashed off the post.

England though did enough to hold on and secure a valuable three points and are on the brink of qualification for the round of 16.

It was not all good news for the English though, as influential midfield general Kiera Walsh was stretchered off the pitch in the first half after appearing to catch her studs in the ground and suffering a serious knee injury.

“Of course I am concerned because she could not walk off the pitch, but we do not know yet so we can’t make any assumptions until we have a diagnosis,” Weigman said.

But the manager remained upbeat about the English performance despite the injury to Walsh.

“We showed we can fight and the team showed real resilience and we kept them 1-0 which is really good and I am very proud of the team.”

For Denmark, the opportunity to qualify out of the group remains a realistic goal as they go into their last game against Haiti potentially only needing a draw depending on the result in the other game.

Midfielder Frederikke Thogersen reiterated the confidence and belief within the squad after challenging one of the tournament favourites in England.

“I think we can get some good confidence from the second half where we just went for it and not thought to much about what happened behind us,” said Thogersen.

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