Qatar feels like a backwards step for the women's game... but I still hope to cheer our boys to glory

SHOULD England falter at this World Cup, you can bet your last Qatari Riyal that the post-mortem will include the now traditional lament of the country's failure to produce a technically-gifted midfield conductor.

- KEIRA WALSH

And when it does, it will be worth pointing out that, actually, we are blessed with just about the best on the planet- and she is already a European champion.

Keira Walsh, it is fair to say, has had quite the year, and to hammer home the point, we begin this interview with a simple question: when was the last time you lost a football match?

"Erm..." she hesitates, presumably rifling through a mental form book with few blemishes. "The FA Cup final?"

Bingo. Walsh's Manchester City side were beaten 3-2 in extra-time by Chelsea at Wembley on May 15 - a full six months ago. In fact, that game is one of only two Walsh has lost all year and plenty has happened since, including that European Championship triumph at the same stadium and then the transfer to Barcelona which fulfilled a childhood dream and made her the most expensive female player of all-time.

All of which means that Walsh comes at this men's World Cup from a rather different viewpoint to that from which she observed the last, when she was yet to make her senior debut as Gareth Southgate's side went close in Russia.

"I would've watched it more from a fan's perspective," she says. "Really getting into it and if things weren't going right, I'd probably switch the TV off or get angry.