View From The Field: Ward’s Words (Helen Ward column)

Watford’s captain and Wales’ record goalscorer is plainly relieved that football is back, even if not quite as she knows it. She welcomes the money afforded to the top two tiers for COVID testing and protocol but had feared the FA Women’s National League and its clubs would be left too far behind, and is glad that has not happened. Looking to a tough autumn that begins away to Norway, she believes Wales know what they need to do to secure second place in the group and a route towards the 2022 Euros. Then comes the arithmetic: if Wales qualify and she is selected, she will be 36. A year ago she would have laughed at the idea, but two pregnancies later she thinks she underestimated the body, and expects to retire tired in the mind before the legs give out.