BIRMINGHAM – Beth Mead has been left out of the 23-player England squad for the upcoming Women’s World Cup, but Bethany England returns for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
England boss Sarina Wiegman unveiled her selection on Wednesday, 50 days before the World Cup kicks off on July 20.
Defender Millie Bright is included despite a recent injury.
Wiegman said: “Lucy (Bronze) is fit, she’s fully in training, getting ready for the (Champions League) final this Saturday. Millie is still building, but we’re positive. It looks good.”
On England, she added: “How she did and how she performed and also how much resilience she showed, that helped us make the decision to get her in the squad.”
The Lionesses, who won the bronze in 2015 and were fourth four years ago in France, begin their World Cup campaign on July 22 against Haiti in Brisbane. They also have Denmark and China in Group D.
The European champions, who beat Germany last July to win a major women‘s tournament for the first time, have been rocked by a number of serious injuries, sidelining captain Leah Williamson, Mead and Fran Kirby among others and creating significant selection dilemmas for Wiegman.
Mead, the Player of the Tournament at Euro 2022, had said in May she was “ahead of schedule”, raising hopes she could be fit in time for the World Cup.
But Wiegman said it would have been “naive” to bring the 28-year-old and it was not under consideration.
She explained: “She is so positive and she’s going really well. But we set the time schedule she had. We would have taken so many risks to try and get her to the World Cup. (But) to push her too much (could mean) she gets injured again.”
She added: “We wanted to bring it to 26. I don’t think the 26 make the injury risk lower, I think you just have more options.
“They didn’t make the choice (to give us 26 players, as with the men’s World Cup), we’re ahead of that, I don’t want to (look back).”
Fellow World Cup contenders and Euro 2022 runners-up Germany also announced their squad. Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has named her squad of 28 players, leaving out injured midfielder Giulia Gwinn. Alexandra Popp (127 caps) captains a side who include 20 of the 23 players from Euro 2022.
Gwinn, named in the Team of the Tournament, has failed to recover from a knee injury in time to make the squad and Voss-Tecklenburg said it “was the most difficult decision to make”.
She also revealed that Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich would not be releasing players until June 23, rather than the June 20 deadline previously agreed between the clubs and the German football association.
“We are disappointed about this as it has a significant impact on our preparation,” said sporting director Joti Chatzialexiou. AFP, REUTERS
