England captain Leah Williamson believes that her World Cup dreams are over after she suffered an ACL injury against Manchester United. Williamson won’t be prepared to captain the Lionesses in the Women’s World Cup, which is being held in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20. Arsenal estimates that Williamson’s recovery won’t take more than six months. Sarina Wiegman, the team’s head coach, makes her selections in late May, and England makes its debut on Saturday, July 22, in Brisbane versus Haiti.
Williamson has now joined Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema as an important Arsenal player who has suffered a cruciate ligament injury this year. The team’s captain, Kim Little, is also out with a hamstring injury as they try to build on their League Cup victory earlier in the year by winning the WSL and the Champions League.
“I will strive to put my sentiments into words until I get the right ones. I need some peace and quiet to give the situation time to sink in because the surrounding noise is pretty loud,” England defender Leah Williamson said about her World Cup hopes. “Although everyone will believe that my dream of competing in the World Cup and the Champions League is ended, and that is the major focus, the most exhausting aspect of my thinking is what I will have to deal with on a daily basis.”
She led England to the first Finalissima trophy at Wembley, defeating Brazil on penalties to win the second championship since Wiegman chose her captain before last summer’s Euros, less than two weeks before sustaining the injury. Initially blaming the Man Utd surface for the incident on Wednesday, Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall expressed uncertainty over Williamson’s length of absence. However, after the seriousness of her injury was confirmed on Friday, Arsenal revealed that Williamson will have surgery in ‘due course’.
It is a big setback for England, who will also likely miss the World Cup due to the injury of Mead, Williamson’s injured teammate at Arsenal and the top scorer and player of the tournament at Euro 2022. Mead was unlikely to recover from her ACL injury in time to make England manager Wiegman’s World Cup selection, she claimed in March when naming her most current roster. After suffering an injury in December, Netherlands attacker Miedema is also expected to miss the World Cup this summer.
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