England veteran Rachel Daly revealed she blocks out the frightening possibility of becoming a victim of the devastating injury crisis besetting women’s football and the World Cup.
Midfielder Keira Walsh was stretchered off with a suspected knee injury in the first half of the Lionesses’ 1-0 group-stage victory over Denmark on Friday, later appearing on crutches and sparking concern she might join England’s Beth Mead and Leah Williamson on a long list of players ruled out of the 2023 tournament with the same anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury that disproportionately affects women.
There was no update on Walsh’s condition as of Saturday night in Sydney, three days before the Lionesses play China in Adelaide with a target of escaping Group D in top spot.
Daly said: “I don’t think you can think about it, for me, those three letters scare the absolute you-know-what out of me.
“Fingers, toes, everything crossed for Keira, but that’s football isn’t it, it’s tough, you have your highs and your lows and you just hope that everything is all right and she’ll be all right for the future. It’s a tough one but I hope she’s all right.
“I think losing anyone is tough but a player with the ability of Keira is a tough one to lose. She’s such an integral part of the way we play and it’s tough, but that’s why Sarina’s built a squad, we’ve got depth, and [Laura Coombs] came on and did really well. So it’s obviously disappointing and heart-breaking for Keira but hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”
England boss Sarina Wiegman did not make any changes to her starting XI during the Lionesses’ Euro 2022-winning campaign, but on Friday opted for two from England’s 1-0 tournament-opening win against Haiti.
Women’s Super League (WSL) Golden Boot winner Daly, who was named as a forward for this tournament, returned to left-back where she started every game of the European Championships, while Chelsea’s Lauren James got the nod on the left wing in place of Lauren Hemp.
It proved a prescient swap after Daly set up James’ first World Cup goal after six minutes against Denmark, that strike also ultimately enough to maintain England’s 100 per cent record and place them in prime position to finish top of Group D with a point against China.
Daly said: “I say it all the time but it’s an honour to put on this shirt whenever I can. I’ll play in any position. It’s not the one I’ve been playing in regularly for my club but it’s something that’s still familiar.
“I think I did all right, there’s tweaks I need to make on my game in that position but that’s OK, I learn from it, I’ll go and analyse it, I’ll fix it and move onto the next game. For me, it’s just getting onto the pitch, and doing what I can for the team.”
The 31-year-old Aston Villa striker also heaped praise on James, a decade her junior, hotly touted as the future of this England squad and backed by Blues boss Emma Hayes to be a vital force for the Lionesses in their quest for a maiden World Cup.
Daly said: “Yeah, LJ’s just a strength on her own, she’s phenomenal, and you saw what she can do, glimpses of what she can do. I can’t take any credit for anything she does, she’s just an unbelievable person and player.”
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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