England captain Leah Williamson was injured playing for Arsenal just three months before the World Cup. Williamson fainted in anguish 12 minutes into a top-of-the-table match after appearing to injure her knee. She quickly motioned to the bench for treatment, and the stretcher was summoned to remove her. Williamson stood up before being assisted off the pitch by two members of the medical personnel. With less than 100 days until the World Cup, this setback could mean disaster for Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses, who have already lost Beth Mead to a torn anterior cruciate ligament sustained in November.
“I don’t have a lot of knowledge on it. Oh sure, it’s bad that she has to leave,” Arsenal Women boss Jonas Eidevall said after Leah Williamson was injured just before the World Cup. “If you see the pitch here today, I believe it has a lot more to ask for, and I believe it will continue here with the playing schedule. Of course, injuries will occur when playing on such pitches. The facilities where we play are something we all need to improve if we want to keep the players on the pitch.”
The injury comes just four days before Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final first leg against German club VfL Wolfsburg, putting the Gunners’ season on hold. Arsenal’s injury list is enormous, and it includes captain Kim Little, who was injured in the Champions League quarter-final triumph over Bayern Munich, and star striker Vivianne Miedema, who joined Mead after tearing her ACL last winter.
In terms of Wiegman’s England center-back choices, Millie Bright is Williamson’s normal central defensive partner. The previous England squad includes center-backs Lotte Wubben-Moy, Maya Le Tissier, and Esme Morgan, with Jess Carter potentially an option. England also possesses former captain Steph Houghton, who was replaced as national team captain before of the European Championships last summer by Williamson, but Wiegman admits her prospects of making the World Cup are “not that high.” In terms of star striker Mead, who was top scorer and Player of the Tournament when the Lionesses won the Euros last year, Wiegman believes only a “miracle” can keep the Arsenal forward healthy for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
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