MANCHESTER, England (AP) — A year after winning Euro 2022, England is out for more at the Women’s World Cup.
The Lionesses, playing under coach Sarina Wiegman, won their first major title last year by beating Germany in the final at Wembley Stadium. And they will be among the favorites to win this year’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand after qualifying with a perfect record of 10 straight wins.
The Dutch-born Wiegman led the Netherlands to victory at Euro 2017. Her team then reached the Women’s World Cup final in 2019 but the Netherlands lost to the United States in France.
Wiegman’s preparations for this year’s tournament, however, have been disrupted by the unavailability of some of England’s key players. Beth Mead, who was the co-leading scorer at Euro 2022 along with Germany forward Alexandra Popp, is out because of ACL injury. Usual captain Leah Williamson and midfielder Fran Kirby are also injured.
Still, it is an England squad with a winning know-how, featuring 16 players who were part of last year’s European success.
Wiegman has also included some bright new talents, such as Lauren James — the sister Chelsea right back Reece James and one of the most exciting players to emerge since the last Women’s World Cup. Fresh from winning a league-and-cup double with Chelsea this season, Lauren James will be playing in her first major international tournament.
The same applies to Laura Coombs, Katie Zelem, Niamh Charles, Esme Morgan and Katie Robinson.
“We’re just going to make sure that we’re going to be at our best and then we see how far we get, but I think we’re still in a pretty good place,” Wiegman said of the squad.
A bonus this year has been the form of Tottenham forward Beth England with 12 goals in 12 Women’s Super League games. She has been named in an England squad for the first time since last September, having thrust herself back into Wiegman’s plans after joining Tottenham in January.
“She didn’t build that much credit for us because we hardly saw her play,” the England coach said. “But then she made a move and she started playing in a hard situation because Tottenham were having a hard time.
“But how she did, and how she performed, and also how much resilience she showed, I think that made us make the decision to get her in the squad.”
Lucy Bronze is undoubtedly one of the stars of the women’s game and brings huge experience to the team. She secured her fourth Women’s Champions League title when Barcelona beat Wolfsburg 3-2 in the final in June and is playing in her third Women’s World Cup, having helped England advance to the semifinals in 2015 and 2019.
Millie Bright has been named captain in the absence of Williamson, but is also overcoming a knee injury.
“She’s still building, but we have some time,” Wiegman said when announcing her squad in May.
For all the talent England has on the field, Wiegman’s expertise may be the team’s greatest weapon. After taking over in 2021, she has gone on to transform the national team with that historic Euro 2022 title.
On top of the success she achieved with the Netherlands, Wiegman has established herself as one of the world’s elite coaches. She bounced back from the disappointment of losing the last Women’s World Cup final by helping England qualify for this year’s tournament without conceding a goal, scoring 80 and rounding off their group with a 10-0 victory over Luxembourg.
England will face Denmark, China and Haiti in the group stage. The team’s first game is against Haiti in Brisbane on July 22.
“We learned a lot of positive lessons about how to get the players fit, fresh and ready from the Euro last summer,” Wiegman said, “and we know what we have to do to make sure we hit the ground running in the right way when the tournament starts.”
___
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
