Keira Walsh comfortable to have a goal on her again if it helps Lionesses
L
ike many groups at this World Cup, Denmark’s plan on find out how to beat England will revolve round focusing on Keira Walsh.
The midfielder is the beating coronary heart of the Lionesses and the participant who makes the whole lot tick.
So it stands to purpose that groups comply with the mantra – cease Walsh, cease England.
Not that the 26-year-old minds. When you’re the costliest participant within the historical past of the ladies’s sport, consideration comes with the worth tag.
“I want to be playing in those tighter situations and really testing myself,” says Walsh. “I enjoy the challenge.
“Maybe teams think I don’t like the physical game as much but from playing in Spain, they are more tactical like that and look to do that a bit more.
“The training we do in the gym is a lot more focused on holding players off when you have the ball.
“That’s something I’ve got better at and hopefully I can keep improving. I can hold my own.
“We have a lot of other top players so if I’m marked, that leaves space for my team-mates around me.”
England’s opener at this World Cup was a superb check of Walsh’s physicality, as Haiti’s midfield regarded to suffocate her when in possession. Walsh ranks them as one of many hardest groups she has confronted and believes there are classes the Lionesses can be taught from that sport going into tomorrow’s conflict.
Both England and the Danes received their opening video games 1-0, which means the victors are all however assured to complete high of Group D.
“If we had kept the ball better [against Haiti] in tighter situations around their box then we wouldn’t have had to defend as much,” says Walsh.
“It’s about decision-making, whether to keep the ball or go for goal – we needed to be more patient.
“It’s always a bit like that in the first game of the tournament. In the Euros we didn’t have our best game against Austria either, and we grew into the tournament.”
If final yr is something to go by, then an announcement efficiency could be anticipated from the Lionesses tomorrow. After successful 1-0 of their opening sport at Euro 2022, England beat Norway 8-0.
An analogous scoreline in opposition to Denmark is bold, given the Lionesses have scored one objective in open play because the begin of April, however Walsh does imagine the Dane’s model ought to work in England’s favour.
“It probably suits the way we play a bit as there will be more spaces rather than teams who sit in,” she says.
“Denmark are a top team. Everyone talks about Pernille Harder but they have other very good players and work really hard. It will be a tough game, but one we’re looking forward to.”
Last summer season’s Euros catapulted Walsh into the limelight as she established herself as top-of-the-line gamers round.
A world-record £400,000 transfer from Manchester City to Barcelona adopted, with the midfielder serving to the Spanish aspect win the Champions League.
Walsh is ready to name upon experiences like that now as England bid for World Cup glory, however she insists her early days at City are simply as vital.
“City have always put a big emphasis on the build-up play going through the holding midfielder, so from the age of 18,19 that’s something I’ve always experienced,” she says.
“When I was younger, and maybe the younger age-groups at England, it was more about stopping the counter-attacks, and breaking up play, and maybe that’s not my strength as a holding midfielder, I think it’s bringing other players into play and setting up attacks for our team.
“The game has changed, but I’ve got more influence from the Spanish in terms of how they’ve always played, and the Pep [Guardiola] influence has always helped me in that respect.”
Walsh has change into a frontrunner underneath head coach Sarina Wiegman and he or she is a chilled affect, each on and off the pitch.
At the final World Cup 4 years in the past, she admits to tiring herself out by exploring host nation France through the event — to the extent she not often leaves the resort now.
Walsh says: “I’m pretty boring when the tournament starts.”
Boring is how a number of the critics could have seen England’s opening win of Haiti, however Walsh just isn’t fearful.
“When I was younger I would have thought it was always about trying to keep the ball, playing the perfect pass and scoring the perfect goal,” she says.
“But now when it comes to those crucial games, it doesn’t matter how you score or how you win.”