England players have called for more research into knee injuries in the wake of Keira Walsh going down against Denmark.
Walsh injured her knee 35 minutes into the Lionesses’ World Cup win over Denmark on Friday, with the victory putting England on the cusp of qualifying for the last-16.
The midfielder’s knee buckled when reaching for a pass and she was on Saturday undergoing further assessment to learn the extent of the damage.
England will fear her tournament is over and there will be wider concerns she has torn her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
The women’s game is suffering a crisis with the injury, and England duo Beth Mead and Leah Williamson are missing this World Cup after rupturing their ACLs.
England goalkeeper Mary Earps and left-back Rachel Daly have now called for more research in the problem as the Lionesses wait to find out how bad Walsh’s injury is.
“I don’t think you can think about it, for me, those three letters scare the absolute you-know-what out of me,” said Daly.
“There’s always more work to be done, in and around injuries and ACLs. It’s a tough one.”
Earps added: “I don’t know what the situation is. But it’s the talk of the town - that more research can be done. And hopefully that will definitely happen.”
Losing Walsh would be a hammer blow for England, but Earps believes it could unify the group.
“We are a resilient group,” she said. “We’re going to keep going and fighting and put our best foot forward as we always do.
“I think you’ve seen that through the adversity we’ve faced coming into the tournament.
“I feel like we are a group that’s together. We’ll have to wait and see whether it’s serious, I guess we’ll find out in a couple of days how serious it is.”
