England women’s World Cup squad named with Lionesses without three key stars

Sarina Wiegman has selected her squad for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and sadly, the tournament has come too soon for Arsenal star Beth Mead who is one of several notable absentees. The 28-year-old was forced to undergo surgery to repair her ACL and while there have been several internal conversations between Wiegman and the Euro 2022 Player of the Tournament and Golden Boot winner, Mead will unfortunately be left at home as she continues her recovery in London.

Fellow heroes including captain fantastic Leah Williamson and Fran Kirby will also miss the World Cup due to injury but there were a few additional surprises within the squad.

England’s goalkeepers will be Mary Earps, Ellie Roebuck and Hannah Hampton, who earned a recall in April. All three were part of the side that secured legendary status after Euro 2022 last summer.

There is good news for the Lionesses in defence as Mille Bright and Lucy Bronze are both in the squad after end-of-season knee surgery and there is hope they could yet contribute.

Barcelona’s Bronze is now back in training ahead of the Women’s Champions League final against Wolfsburg in Eindhoven.

Jess Carter, Niamh Charles, Alex Greenwood, Esme Morgan and Lotte Wubben-Moy complete Wiegman’s options at the back.

There is sadly no place for Manchester United’s 21-year-old Maya Le Tissier, who will travel with the squad while remaining on standby.

Demi Stokes is also a significant absentee while in midfield, there are call-ups for Laura Coombs, Jordan Nobbs, Georgia Stanway who won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, Kiera Walsh and Katie Zelem.

Nobbs has endured a stellar second half of the season following her transfer from Arsenal and Aston Villa which has since seen the midfielder lavished in praise following her dramatic upturn in form.

Rachel Daly tops the list in attack while Bethany England gets the call-up she deserves after scoring 12 goals in 12 games for Tottenham – keeping the north London club afloat.

Lauren Hemp and Lauren James, who was not part of the England Euro-winning squad, are also named as part of Wiegman’s frontline.

James has been excellent since moving to Chelsea after putting a number of injury problems behind her during her time with both Arsenal and Manchester United.

Chloe Kelly, Katie Robinson and Alessia Russo also make up England’s forward options.

The final squad announcement means England will be without seven of the Lionesses – including retired captain Jill Scott – who made history last summer at Wembley.

Wiegman has added that in addition to injury, Mead has also been experiencing a personal issue which also factored into her final decision.

The England boss added that there was never any realistic chance of Mead being fit and that she did not want to put extra pressure on the Arsenal ace, in case she suffered a setback.

Six of the Lionesses included in the squad have never participated in a major tournament which adds to the size of the task at hand even though England will travel to Australia and New Zealand as second favourites behind the USA.