Page 14 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.35 2022-23

Sarina Wiegman has named the 23 players who will have the honour of
representing England at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia
and New Zealand this summer.
Millie Bright, Lucy Bronze, Rachel Daly, Mary Earps, Alex
Greenwood, Georgia Stanway and Keira Walsh are all named, having also
been part of the squad that reached the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.
Bronze and Greenwood will be playing in their third consecutive World
Cup after winning a bronze medal in 2015 while Jordan Nobbs was also
part of that squad but missed out four years ago.
Since the announcement of the squad, the England Head Coach has
confirmed that in the absence of Leah Williamson through injury, Millie Bright will captain
the team during the tournament.
Wiegman said: “I have huge belief in this squad and we’re very fortunate to be selecting
a fantastic group of players to travel to Australia. We know we will face tough challenges from
strong teams, and we will have to be competitive from the first match on 22 July. We will do
everything to be at our very best again this summer.
“It is important the players get some well-deserved time to rest and recover over the
next few weeks before we start the final preparations to get them ready. We learned a lot of
positive lessons about how to get the players fit, fresh and ready from the EURO last summer
and we know what we have to do to make sure we hit the ground running in the right way
when the tournament starts.”
Selected are 16 of the squad who won UEFA EURO 2022 while Niamh Charles, Laura
Coombs, Lauren James, Esme Morgan, Katie Robinson and Katie Zelem will all be playing
at their first major tournament. England captain Leah Williamson, Fran Kirby and Beth
Mead will all miss out on the finals because of injuries.
Maya Le Tissier, Jess Park and Emily Ramsey have been named on standby and will
train with the squad when they report to St. George’s Park in June. Ramsey will leave the
group prior to departure for Australia. Le Tissier and Park will join the group in travelling to
Australia on 5 July for the final preparation phase of the tournament, remaining up to the
opening match against Haiti on 22 July.
Wiegman added: “It is always tough to leave some players out of the squad, but they
know they could still be needed if we have any issues before we start the tournament. I am
very happy that we have such a professional group.”
The head coach, who guided the Netherlands to be runners-up at the 2019 World Cup,
named her squad at community club Boldmere St. Michaels FC in Sutton Coldfield in
Birmingham.
The squad was revealed via a collage-style animation, created by mixed media artist
Alice Isaac. The short film uses more than 1,000 individually cut-out elements to hero the 23
players and the wider England family, as well as highlighting the journey the team has been
on over the past 12 months and the adventure that lies ahead this summer.
England open up their World Cup matches against Haiti on 22nd July in Brisbane,
before playing Denmark six days later in Sydney, and finish up the group stage by playing
China on 1st August, at the Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide.
The World Cup itself will start on 20th July, when the two host nations will be in
action. New Zealand start the tournament when they take on Norway, then Australia play
their opening match against debutants Republic of Ireland.
The Final will be played on Sunday 20th August at Stadium Australia, Sydney.
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