By Lori Ewing
BURTON UPON TRENT, England (Reuters) -A year’s injury layoff had proved a blessing in disguise, Manchester City defender Esme Morgan said after coming back from a broken leg to win a place in England’s side for the women’s World Cup this month.
The 22-year-old Morgan, capped five times for the Lionesses since her Oct. 2022 debut, missed almost an entire season for City plus England’s triumphant European Championship campaign after breaking her lower leg in Sept, 2021, but said she returned to the pitch feeling refreshed.
“There’s so many ups and downs with it because at the start of my rehab, I wanted to make the Euros, which in hindsight was never realistic at all. I wish someone had told me: ‘There’s no chance,” Morgan told reporters at England’s recent media day at St. George’s Park.
“As soon as I was back from that and I felt good in myself, I had my eyes set on the World Cup. When I came back I realised that I actually felt better than I’d ever felt before; the World Cup was definitely a target I had in mind.
“Having a year off refreshed my mentality a bit because I missed football so much. It was maybe a blessing in disguise in changing my perspective.”
Morgan was relieved when England manager Sarina Wiegman rang her with news of her call-up for the Lionesses, who shoulder lofty expectations at the July 20-Aug. 20 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as the fourth-ranked team and defending European champions.
“I had an underlying confidence that I had done enough (to be called-up),” Morgan said.
Players were given a window when Wiegman would call and deliver the news.
“I literally had my phone glued to me the entire morning — on vibrate because I was a nervous wreck so I thought I can’t have it on loud because I’ll jump out my skin when it goes off,” Morgan said with a laugh.
Morgan echoed team mate and captain Millie Bright, who also appreciated the rest she was forced to take after a knee injury in March, saying she could not recall the last time she had had more than two weeks off in a year.
“It’s tough. I’ve been doing it for several years, when you’re doing back-to-back tournaments it’s hard, when you’re playing every single minute for your clubs,” said the Chelsea defender.
“That’s the demands of the game now, with how competitive it is getting. There is still work to be done on scheduling, making sure we can compete in every competition and do back-to-back tournaments. We are not robots, we need time to recover, to perform for the fans, for our clubs and countries; we want to be at the highest level”
The Lionesses, who won bronze in Canada in 2015 and came fourth four years ago in France, begin their World Cup campaign on July 22 against Haiti in Brisbane. They also face Denmark and China in Group D.
(Additional reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Clare Fallon)
