Cymru star Sophie Ingle hasn’t taken to the field since suffering a serious ACL injury last September, but the hard months of recovery were all worth it as she prepares to realise a dream and compete at the EURO finals.
“When you first get such a big injury you do think, ‘can you make it back?’,” Ingle explained to UEFA at the team hotel earlier this week. “Once the girls qualified in December, then that was my aim, to do everything I could to be in with a chance. Once I got selected it was such a special feeling that all that hard work and those lonely days on your own in the gym had paid off. It’s such a nice feeling.”
Although Ingle is now a free agent, her former club Chelsea played a significant role in her rehabilitation to ensure that she would be in a position to feature for Cymru at the EURO finals. The 33-year-old has 141 caps since making her debut against Azerbaijan in 2009 and has played a huge part in the journey that this squad has been on over the last few years.
“I always had the mentality that if I don’t make it, at least I’ve tried and I’ve done everything that I can,” she explained.
“But to have a date in place I think definitely helps because when you are in the gym on your own or you’re doing your first football sessions on your own, just in the back of your mind you think, ‘let’s do everything we can to try and get back for the EURO and be back with the girls in this Welsh team’.”
Ingle was appointed Cymru captain under former head coach Jayne Ludlow in 2014, but relinquished the armband last year prior to her injury, with Angharad James later becoming the permanent captain.
However, Ingle was keen to explain the importance of all the senior players in the squad and their collective responsibility to lead by example and support the younger players.
“I’ve always played the same way,” she added. “Whether you have the armband or not, it doesn’t matter about your age. I think as you grow into the role, you learn a lot about yourself and then you can help the younger ones coming through. I’m not going to change now because I’m back in the squad.”
Ingle has suffered her fair share of failed qualifying campaigns with Cymru over the years, and those disappointments will ensure that she embraces every moment of the tournament.
“It’s been tough over the years,” she explained. “I think each campaign we were getting closer and closer, and you do then start to think as you get a bit older if it’s ever going to happen.
“As soon as the girls qualified in Dublin, it was a weight off everyone’s shoulders. It didn’t matter what age you are, how many caps you had, it was kind of a relief that we’d finally done it and we can come here now and enjoy every aspect of being in the EURO, at such a fantastic tournament.”
Comfortable in defence or midfield, Ingle was on TV punditry duty when the celebrations began in Dublin following the victory over the Republic of Ireland and was quickly whisked away to join the party on the pitch. It showed her importance to the rest of the squad and how big a part she has played in Cymru finally making it to the biggest stage.
“It’s definitely got to be top one, or joint top, with a lot of my club success,” Ingle added. “I think more so after such a big injury is just to be back amongst the team and trying my best to do anything that I can for the girls both on and off the pitch. To be back in this environment after missing out on eight or nine months has been tough but also rewarding now that I am back.”
