Heading into the China match, England boss Sarina Wiegman is unable to call upon the injured Williamson, Jess Carter, Alex Greenwood, and Millie Bright – the last of whom retired from international duty earlier this year. Without Williamson, Walsh is wearing the captain’s armband, and with it, she will bring with her a less vocal presence.
She said, via The Guardian: “I’m probably a little bit quieter than Leah, especially off the pitch. When I was younger, Sarina had to tell me a few times to try and get involved in conversations and share my experiences a little bit more … I just try and lead in how I play and my consistency in the training drills we do and just try and show the younger girls that way.”
Walsh added on captaining the Lionesses: “It is really special. I think obviously Leah is England captain and she does an incredible job at that and I think you can see in the competitions that we’ve won that she’s been monumental in those moments for us. I do try and lead in a bit of a different way. I could never step into Leah’s shoes in that sense. For me, it is really, really special and more so for my family as well. To captain your country, there’s not many better moments in football than that.”
After winning the Euros again this past summer, attention will naturally turn to blooding younger players as Wiegman’s team tries to win the 2027 World Cup. And playing nations from all across the world, who have different game styles, is just what the Lionesses need.
On Friday, the Dutchwoman said: “We want to play countries from other continents because they challenge us in different ways. We know China is always a very disciplined team. They have a very good structure and they can play out but they can also play a little bit more direct. What we expect also is that they’re trying to challenge us in their tactics, so let’s see if they’re going to do what we expect them to do tomorrow. What I hope is that we have the ball a lot more than they will have and we can improve our own game too and also have a gameplan that fits the game.
“That’s what we had [younger players] last camp too. It’s also a natural thing, now it has to do with retirements and injuries, but I think it gives opportunities for players to show themselves and to see where they’re at. We have players in the squad that are already – even with the players in – competing for starting positions and competing for more minutes, so it’s really good to give that opportunity but players also get the opportunity also because they deserve it and because they’ve shown good performances.”
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While midfielder Walsh will want to impress as a captain, she also wants her England team-mates to round off the year in strong fashion as they face China and Ghana over the next few days.
The former Barcelona star added: “It is important to put on a strong performance but I think for us as a group, it’s probably more important to try things and see how things are going to work. Playing non-European opposition is really important. We always want to win the game and we want to have a good game but I think as we mentioned, there’s squad rotation, there’s different players coming in, so we don’t want to put too much pressure on them – we just want them to go out, show what they’re good at and enjoy themselves. Hopefully we can build some good connections this week.”
While England will hope to beat China, Wiegman may be keen on a personal milestone of her own. In her 73rd match in charge of the Lionesses, she is seeking a 50th win as England manager.
Incidentally, the team has won only two of five meetings with China across all competitions, although the most recent of which was a 6-1 thrashing in the 2023 World Cup.
