I should have made England’s World Cup squad but injury ruined my dream and I sat crying on the bench

10 months ago 55

PATRICK BAMFORD has opened up on the injury hell that ended his World Cup dream.

The Leeds striker, 30, made his England debut in a 4-0 win over Andorra in September 2021.

Bamford hoped that his maiden cap would be just the beginning of an international career leading to the Qatar World Cup the following year.

Unfortunately for the former Chelsea youngster, however, persistent injury woes have so far prevented him from receiving an elusive second call-up from Gareth Southgate.

Having made his England debut just a month into the 2021-22 season, Bamford was limited to just six more appearances for his club that campaign.

Bamford explained on his My Mate’s a Footballer podcast: “Plantar fasciitis is when that (foot) gets really sore, for no real reason. It can get really sore and people struggle to walk.

“I had a small tear in it. The best way I can describe it is every step whether you’re walking or playing football was like standing on a plug socket.

“It was brutal. I was trying to play through it. I ended up getting an injection in it which was a four or five week lay-off, you had to let the injection work and then come back.

“As I was coming back the pain was a little bit less but as I was playing more and more it was starting to get worse again.”

Bamford made a brief return to action against Brentford in December 2021, even scoring before being forced off with a hamstring issue after just 22 minutes.

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He eventually returned again the following March, only for his foot to cause him more issues.

Bamford admitted: “I was like ‘I’m just going to keep going through it’ because there’s not much else I can do. I kept going and kept going and kept going.

“Because the first injury had come just after I got the England call-up, I was itching to try and get back and try and be in contention for the World Cup.”

In just his second game back, Bamford and Co hosted fellow relegation strugglers at Elland Road.

He continued: “I played against Norwich, played a half which was the plan. Did well but then towards the end of the first half there was a really weird feeling in the bottom of my foot.

“I was like ‘it’s fine, I’m coming off at half-time anyway’. I knew I was only playing a half.

“So I’ve done that, gone inside and then we had Wolves the following week and I didn’t train really that week until the day before the game, just let my foot settle.

“Then the day before the game my foot was getting more and more sore. So we got to the Wolves game and I was like ‘I’m still going to play because there’s nothing else I can do if I’m just sat there waiting for it to heal’.

“It’s strange because the plantar fascia thing, it doesn’t heal on its own. You either have that pain or your plantar fascia just goes.

“I played the Wolves game, went to accelerate and I realised I can’t push off, it’s too sore, so I couldn’t really run, strange.

“Two minutes later I jumped for a ball over the top and as I landed on my left foot the pain I felt was horrible, I thought ‘that’s bad’.

“So I sat down, that’s the one where I was on the bench basically crying because I knew I had tried to do it and it’s gone.

“Next day I went down to see the specialist for feet in London and he was like ‘you’ve ruptured your plantar fascia’. Which means, where it attaches to the bone on the heel, it had just come off.”

Targeted by fans

Bamford has been a heroic figure at Leeds, having helped them earn promotion to the Premier League under Marcelo Bielsa and scored 17 goals in their first campaign back in the top flight.

But as things began to unravel at Elland Road last season, Bamford became a target of some supporters after missing a penalty against Newcastle.

Having endured threats against his family, including his young daughter, on social media – things escalated further as he headed home from the match.

He explained: “As I turn up the drive to get in I can’t even cross the gate, there’s two cars [blocking it].

“I went to put my window down. As I did, they put their windows up and just stared at me. Then the gate opened because my dad had opened it and they drove off.

“I think it was a culmination of the last few weeks. I took a lot of flak for it. The way they expressed it was crazy.”

Following Leeds’ relegation back to the Championship, Bamford missed their first eight games this term.

He has been eased back into the fold by Daniel Farke, coming off the bench in his first 16 league appearances of the season.

Bamford has returned to prominence in recent weeks, however, starting Leeds’ last five Championship games and scoring three goals.