England manager Sarina Wiegman has plenty of talent to choose from but it’s a big ask to plug the Lionesses’ Kiera Walsh-shaped hole on the grand stage
That moment of doom when Kiera Walsh lunged for the ball quickly turned into a disaster for England fans all over. She instantly hit the deck, pushed away any support from fellow teammates and signalled to the bench that her tournament was over.
England looked significantly lost without their talisman Walsh, clutching on the end of their 1-0 win over Denmark like trying to catch smoke with their bare hands. Fans were not fully sure how they did it, it was chaotic and panic-stricken, and the future looked bleak for this side minus their midfield maestro.
But the show must go on, Sarina Wiegman ushered the team forward, plugging the Walsh-shaped hole with tournament debutant Laura Coombs – talk about square-peg-round-hole.
As the play progressed, Georgia Stanway slotted into that holding role to let Coombs push slightly higher up the field, but neither offered the glue-like adhesion or the impending threat to the opposition that Walsh brings to the table.