Keira Walsh has spoken about how negativity on Twitter during the World Cup made her want to stop playing football. She told The Times that she couldn't stop herself from reading negative comments.
The Manchester City and England midfielder said: “I don’t know why. If anything, I probably sought out the negative comments more than the positive ones. I’m quite self-critical anyway.
"I did [it] after every game at the World Cup. It probably won’t make a lot of sense to a lot of people but I think other athletes have probably done that in their careers as well. I knew people were going to be saying it about me and I just couldn’t help myself.”
Seeing the comments impacted her experience at the World Cup. She recalled: "There were times when I went back to the room and I just cried.”
“I literally was sat in the room crying. I’m not even an emotional person. There were times when I didn’t even want to leave the room to go to training.”
Walsh explained that even though some players had advised her not to check social media, she thought she'd be able to cope with it.
Looking back at the tournament she explained that she has good memories of moments with her teammates and the Norway goals, but she said: "I don’t really have many fond memories.”
When it came to playing again at Manchester City, Walsh explained all this had taken its toll: “It was just a difficult time in my career. I was a bit overemotional. There were times when I didn’t want to play football at all, I just wanted to get out of England and not think about what the media and everyone else was saying about me.”
After putting in a transfer request at Manchester City, less than a month later Walsh decided to remove it and stay. She has just signed a three-year contract extension with the club and is gearing up for the SheBelieves Cup in the United States, something she said she is looking forward to.