Arsenal & Lioness star Beth Mead keeping “fingers crossed” on recovery for Women’s World Cup by Michelle
Arsenal & England Women star Beth Mead suffered an excrutiating ACL injury in November 2022, when Arsenal suffered their first loss of the WSL season at the hands of Manchester United at Emirates Stadium. Mead, alongside her teammate and partner Vivianne Miedema (who suffered the same injury 4 weeks after Mead) scored 66% of Arsenal goals in the previous season. Mead was also the top scorer and player of the tournament in England’s historic Euro 2022 triumphant win.
Beth is now in a race against time to be fit for the Lionesses’ FIFA Women’s World Cup first match on July 22nd against Haiti at Brisbane Stadium in Australia, saying “I’m ahead of schedule so far…I want to do my best to get to a World Cup”
Speaking to Sky Sports News for World Book Day on March 2nd, Mead spoke about her return saying: “Realistically next season is sensible – but I’m not sensible!
“The World Cup is obviously my motivation. I want to do my best to get to a World Cup.
“If it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be but it’s something for me to strive and reach towards.
“I’m ahead of schedule so far – I want to keep it that way. It’s a long injury and there are a lot of ups and downs.
“The rehab is going well. [I’m] 11 weeks post-op, counting down the days.
“It’s going very slowly but it’s been good for me to sit down and reflect to look back on the year we’ve had, the legacy that we’ve created as a women’s team.”
Mead also revealed that Lionesses head coach Sarina Wiegman had been in touch with her ahead of the tournament to offer her support.
“Sarina’s been amazing,” she said. “She’s kept in touch with me regularly; she gave me a FaceTime the night before camp which was really nice just to check I was okay.
“She knew it was the first time I wouldn’t be going to an England camp since my injury, so personably she’s been incredible with that and she understands my situation.
“We’re keeping in contact often and we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
Beth’s injury was season-ending for Arsenal but she may just recover in time for the Women’s World Cup. It’s certainly very tight.. Beth’s injury happened on 22nd November and the Lionesses first match in Australia is 22nd July – that’s 8 months from injury to fully match-fit.. If anyone can do it, Beth Mead can!
We’ve got out fingers crossed for Beth too!
Michelle Maxwell
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