Women’s World Cup: Keira Walsh happy to have a target on her back if it helps Lionesses
ike many teams at this World Cup, Denmark’s plan on how to beat England will revolve around targeting Keira Walsh.
The midfielder is the beating heart of the Lionesses and the player who makes everything tick.
So it stands to reason that teams follow the mantra – stop Walsh, stop England.
Not that the 26-year-old minds. When you are the most expensive player in the history of the women’s game, attention comes with the price 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 good test of Walsh’s physicality, as Haiti’s midfield looked to suffocate her when in possession. Walsh ranks them as one of the toughest teams she has faced and believes there are lessons the Lionesses can learn from that game going into tomorrow’s clash.
Both England and the Danes won their opening games 1-0, meaning the victors are all but guaranteed to finish top 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 last year is anything to go by, then a statement performance can be expected from the Lionesses tomorrow. After winning 1-0 in their opening game at Euro 2022, England beat Norway 8-0.
A similar scoreline against Denmark is ambitious, given the Lionesses have scored one goal in open play since the start of April, but Walsh does believe the Dane’s style should 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’s Euros catapulted Walsh into the limelight as she established herself as one of the best players around.
A world-record £400,000 move from Manchester City to Barcelona followed, with the midfielder helping the Spanish side win the Champions League.
Walsh is able to call upon experiences like that now as England bid for World Cup glory, but she insists her early days at City are just as important.
“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 become a leader under head coach Sarina Wiegman and she is a calming influence, both on and off the pitch.
At the last World Cup four years ago, she admits to tiring herself out by exploring host nation France during the tournament — to the extent she rarely leaves the hotel now.
Walsh says: “I’m pretty boring when the tournament starts.”
Boring is how some of the critics may have viewed England’s opening win of Haiti, but Walsh is not worried.
“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.”
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