Hayley Raso returned to international football last week after a serious back injury

Australia and Portland Thorns star aiming to make Women’s World Cup bow in June

“I broke down and was asking, ‘Will I be able to walk again?’ ”

Few players will have taken a tougher road to the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™ than Hayley Raso.

The pint-sized Australia winger has long been renowned for her on-field character and durability. But that resolve was pushed to the limit last year in a life-changing split-second. Representing NWSL powerhouse Portland Thorns, Raso crashed to the turf after a collision that left her barely able to move.

“I was in an immense amount of pain,” said Raso, taking up the story with FIFA.com. “At the time I didn’t really know what was wrong, or what even had happened to me [on the field], I just knew something was really wrong with me.”

Through torturous pain, Raso’s mind raced. “I was freaking out in the first hour,” she continued. “From the moment of the injury until being at the hospital, there was a big period of unknown and what does this mean. I honestly think I have a pretty high pain threshold, but I was thinking ‘how can pain be this bad.’

“Being sent for a scan and finding out I had broken three of my vertebrae was tough. I remember it like it was yesterday.

“When you hear of someone breaking their back you think, ‘that’s it, they can’t walk or live a normal life’, so for me I broke down and was asking, ‘will I be able to walk again?’ ”