UNLUCKY BREAK
England keeper’s leg broken by team-mate
ENGLAND will have to fight for European Championship glory without their No 1 goalkeeper after Karen Bardsley had her leg broken by her own captain.
Manager Mark Sampson said Bardsley fractured her tibia when skipper Steph Houghton fell into the Manchester City goalkeeper in Sunday’s historic quarter-final win over France.
Liverpool’s Siobhan Chamberlain will deputise for the semifinal against Holland in Enschede tomorrow night and for a potential final against Austria or Denmark on Sunday. After scans revealed the extent of the injury yesterday, Sampson said: ‘We’re devastated for KB. It was a hell of a bump — Steph gave her a right whack by mistake.’
Bardsley will stay with the squad as they fight for the country’s first major international silverware since 1966 after a scan revealed the scale of her injury yesterday. Houghton emerged unhurt from the collision and England will be able to rely on her partnership with Millie Bright at the back against the hosts.
Bright has revealed how she has tried to strike fear into forwards with her ferocious play here at the Women’s Euros. It is an outlook she credits to her grandfather Arthur, a veteran of Doncaster’s Rossington Colliery mine.
‘He’s really competitive, just as much as me,’ says Bright. ‘He’s definitely the one who is responsible for that mindset.’
Perhaps the strength of the 23-year-old is best summed up by an incident back in April when Italy’s Alice Parisi jumped into a challenge on her — only to break her own leg. She was also dominant against France. And Holland will be wary. The advice from her grandad is working well.
‘He has always said, “If you’re going in for a ball, go 100 per cent and never go in half-hearted”,’ explains Bright. ‘If it’s a 50-50, he always used to say, “Millie, you’re coming out with it”. Every game I’ve had that mindset, I just make sure I win it. Obviously we go to the gym a lot and work on certain physical strengths but I think it’s more mental.
‘I have looked up to John Terry, he has been a massive defender for me and a rock. He is really good at doing his one v one defending and reading the game.
‘You have to make the strikers fear you and make it difficult for them to get on the ball and go into different areas. That makes my job easier. You have to get one above your opponent and being on the front foot allows you to dominate them.’
It could have been so different for Bright, who nearly ended up in equestrian sport. But now the Chelsea centre back is riding England’s charge towards European glory. ‘We’ve got a yard back home in Sheffield and the horses are still there,’ Bright says. ‘They’re just on hold for the minute. For now we’re just determined and hungry to win here.’