England midfielder Keira Walsh was taken off on a stretcher during her side’s Women’s World Cup game against Denmark.
The 26-year-old went down 35 minutes into the game with her side 1-0 up, thanks to a goal from Chelsea’s Lauren James.
The Barcelona midfielder had lunged to cut out a pass, but seemed to get her foot caught in the turf and stayed down, before gesturing to the England bench.
She appeared to say “it’s my knee” and was consoled by teammates before being replaced by Laura Combs.
Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall, speaking as a pundit on the BBC, said he thought the pitch looked dry and potentially presented a hazard.
“I think it looks very dry,” Eidevall said. “You can see on the movement, when (Walsh) has tried to slide with the right foot, that it stops and it twists her knee.
“I think an example of that was the celebrations on the first goal, Lauren James — she tries to knee-slide but when she tries to do it, her knee stops and she falls over. It looks funny but that’s a danger to player welfare, to have such a dry pitch. The pitch should allow you to slide through. That’s not good enough.”
England entered the tournament with their squad already having been decimated by injuries and had lost several key members of their team.
Captain and Arsenal centre-back Leah Williamson tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during a Women’s Super League against Manchester United in April.
Chelsea midfielder Fran Kirby announced in May that she would miss the tournament after undergoing surgery on a knee injury she sustained in February.
Arsenal forward Beth Mead suffered a ruptured ACL in November, and despite her best efforts was unable to recover in time for the tournament.
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