England are counting the cost of their 1-0 Women's World Cup win over Denmark after the reigning European champions lost durable midfielder Keira Walsh to a knee injury.
The undefeated Lionesses moved atop Group D with victory courtesy of a Lauren James strike at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday.
But the loss of Walsh will raise questions as to how deep they can go at this tournament, with former international Ellen White telling the BBC that England had "no plan B".
Walsh, who became the world’s most expensive player when she moved to Barcelona earlier this year, was attempting to snuff out a Danish ball when she winced and failed to get up.
The midfielder’s face was fraught with anguish as she signalled to the bench that her night, and possibly her tournament, was over.
England had already lost skipper Leah Williamson and forward Beth Mead to knee injuries prior to the tournament.
Walsh hasn’t missed a competitive game for England since 2021 and her absence will seriously test the depth of Sarina Wiegman’s side.
“I’m concerned she couldn’t walk off the pitch,” Wiegman said.
“We don’t know (how serious it is) yet. We can’t make any assumptions, let’s just wait until we have a diagnosis.
“It’s not nice that these things and a player goes off the pitch that way.
“Sometimes these things happen in football and you have to move on, so we really need to adapt to a new situation as quick as possible and that’s what we did.”
England responded well to the midfielder being stretchered off with Wiegman bringing Laura Coombs on and declaring she would fill the Walsh void going forward.
The pause in play allowed them to refocus and see out their 1-0 lead until halftime after the Danes had threatened to pull level.
The Lionesses went ahead in just the sixth minute when a beautifully weighted shot from James sent the 40,439-strong mainly pro-English crowd into a frenzy.
James’ busy presence on the left will have left Wiegman impressed after the England boss brought her off the bench in their opening group game.
James’ jinking runs continued to cause Denmark problems but England lacked the cutting edge.
Wiegman had challenged her side to be more ruthless after their win over Haiti but they clutched at their chances.
Bethany England and Alessia Russo both fluffed second-half opportunities and they were nearly made to rue their wastefulness when Denmark’s Amalie Vangsgaard rattled the post with a header in the dying stages.
Thankfully for England the ball bounced away from the goalmouth and they held on for victory, needing only a draw against China in Adelaide on Tuesday to finish top of their group.
"We put a lot of pressure on them in the last part of the second half," said Danish coach Lars Sondergaard, whose side face Haiti in Perth on Tuesday.
"We could've got an equaliser but that's how it is."
