The heartbreaking story that left Steph Houghton without a World Cup

Here in world soon there will be surprising stories, stories of overcoming, painful stories of footballers who did everything to be in the greatest football event and who, as a result of serious injuries or arbitrary technical decisions, will remain outside . This is the case, for example, of English Stephanie Houghtonalso captain of City of Manchester.

The story was told by the ‘Daily Mail’. On March 19 this year, the 35-year-old former England captain was on the bench for Manchester City in the FA Cup tie against Aston Villa. Her husband Stephen Darby, the former Liverpool and Bradford City defender, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease just months after they married in 2018, was at home.

He, as he always does, insists that he will be fine on his own, despite the devastating progress of the disease. The phone rang and Steph picked it up. ‘Stephen fell, he’s in hospital,’ they told him. “I was wondering but what am I doing here? You feel guilty. You’re in Birmingham and you shouldn’t be.” Stephen, who received a wound on the back of his head, recovered. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries.

But Stephan suffers from an incurable disease in which a third of those diagnosed die within 18 months to two years. Therefore, for the soccer player, the time they spend together is important. So when Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman explained to Houghton what he needed to do to qualify for the England squad after an Achilles injury, he consulted Stephen first. And it is that I have to do the rehabilitation in about 60 km. from Manchester. Or what is the same, more than an hour’s journey each day.

Houghton received a graft and recovered in time, but was left out of the squad for last year’s European Championships. He was devastated, but he kept working hard to get to the World Cup. Wiegman included him on the shortlist, but threw him out on the second call. Another hard stick, from which he didn’t know if he would ever recover. “I’m disappointed with all the effort I’ve put in to do the things they’ve asked of me, to get back into the (City) team, play well and against the best,” Houghton said.

“Since January I have started all the games except one. I feel that I am in shape, ready for the World Cup. But sometimes it happens that you have a coach who is not seen as part of his plans,” he lamented. Wiegman’s quality is undisputed, but without the injured Leah Williamson and Fran Kirby, Houghton has a strong case that he deserves a spot in the 23-player group, not just because of his quality but also because of experience.

“The conversation was too vague to be honest,” he explained, choosing his words carefully. “I think that’s the hard thing to accept. I feel like I can give something to the team. I know what the role will be: I won’t start games, but I would have supported the girls 100 percent. The team comes first. But it was the coach’s decision. I didn’t argue, but I told him: “I did everything you asked me to do. “I’ve been fighting for 18 months to show I can still play at that level, but it was pretty clear in that conversation, I’m never going to play for England again.”

The 35-year-old plans to retire as a professional: “All I want to do is play for my country. It’s something I have to think about in the summer. I’ll never give up on my country. , but I won’t know if I put myself under that kind of pressure again.”