Michelle Agmeyang injury does not look good, says Weigman in the aftermath of England’s win over Australia.
An awful moment’: Sarina Wiegman says Agyemang injury ‘doesn’t look good’.
Sarina Wiegman expressed that she was “not feeling very positive” on the severity of Michelle Agyemang knee injury sustained during England’s 3-0 victory over Australia.
After falling off the ball, the 19-year-old attacker, who was on loan at Brighton from Arsenal, smacked the Pride Park pitch in pain, causing teammates and medical personnel to run to her aid. As she was carried down the tube on a stretcher, a worried Wiegman spoke to her.
“That was an awful moment,” said the England manager. “It doesn’t look good. We don’t know the extent of it yet, she needs to be assessed, but I’m not feeling very positive.”
The young forward, who was seen leaving the ground on crutches, was substituted 18 minutes after coming on in place of Arsenal’s Alessia Russo.
“It is never nice when anyone comes off a stretcher, let alone a teammate,” her fellow forward Aggie Beever-Jones told ITV. “I don’t know what she has done but I will be praying she will be OK.”
Two days after being called up to replace injured Russo, Agyemang scored 41 seconds into her England debut in a 3-2 loss to Belgium in April. She scored the crucial equaliser against Sweden in the 81st minute of the quarterfinals to force extra time, which England won on penalties, and the equaliser against Italy in the 96th minute of the semi-finals to force extra time once more, this time with England winning in the 119th minute. She earned a spot in Wiegman’s squad for the Euros and made a spectacular debut on the international scene in the summer.
Agyemang’s injury tainted England’s encouraging performance after their Saturday loss to Brazil. Alanna Kennedy’s early red card for Australia, however, angered Wiegman because it meant England did not receive the test they had hoped for.
“That was disappointing and those are the rules,” she said. “In a qualifier I don’t care but in a friendly you want to play 11 v 11 as that provides the most challenges. We tried to adapt straight away, they dropped deeper so the spaces became smaller and very tight. We hoped to do other things at the end of the game but unfortunately we had some injuries.”