The Lionesses have gathered from across Europe to their camp here in London as preparation for international friendlies against the USA and Czech Republic begins!
Lionesses supporters have been on the edge of their seat, biting their nails and saying prayers as we see 3 players have to withdraw from the squad due to injury.
Skipper Leah Williamson picked up an injury on the initial day of camp, she is undergoing an assessment currently and the extent of her injury is not yet known.
Youngster Lucy Parker, whom in fact bought tickets to the USA game, has had to withdraw from her second first team call up due to a knock that occurred in West Ham’s Continental Tyres Cup tie against London City Lionesses in the weekend just gone.
Alessia Russo was the first player who’s absence was announced. Despite how heartbreaking this news was, fans weren’t all that surprised. Russo was not named in the squad for Manchester United’s Continental Tyres Cup tie against Aston Villa and rumoured of injury spread like wildfire across social media. However, these rumours were also met with theories that they were simply resting her as an act of injury prevention, due to how crucial she has been recently to the Lionesses’ success.
As a result to these unfortunate injuries, manager Sarina Wiegman decided to bring in two replacements who were originally left out of the squad. Arsenal’s Lotte Wubben-Moy and Manchester United’s Nikita Parris received their call-up to the squad in the early hours of the morning. Wubben-Moy arrived with plenty of time before preparation went underway today however Parris is yet to arrive in London.
Training commenced at 11am with the outfield players participating in a mix of ball play and conditioning warmups before moving onto their main drill. Goalkeepers Mary Earps, Ellie Roebuck and Sandy MacIver doing an airily based exercise.
Rachel Daly has moved back to the WSL after a lengthy time in the US. Her impeccable start to the season has everybody following her next move. When the main training drill began, she was seen to be passing the ball around with a coach by herself, which immediately was spotted by all. Arising concern and worry in regard to if she will be another player they will lose, with their already heavily displaced squad. Whilst she did not join in, she was able to walk around fine and acted as a ballgirl during the teams final kick about – well below her pay grade!
Training was drawn to a close in the most wholesome way possible. Lionesses of the past, the pioneers of the game, were welcomed onto the pitch by the squad and coaching staff. The Lionesses of the past and present spent half an hour conversing and getting to know each others stories.
We were lucky enough to talk to Pat Chapman, who was a part of the Lionesses squad who made it to the first EUROS final in history! When asked about this summer, Pat revealed that she was ‘Proud. Proud because I played a small part. But, I think they must be so proud of themselves. They brought together a lot of young players, boys and girls, who now want to play football. And I think that’s the main thing, to grow the game here with the youngsters coming through’. She also mentioned that she had ‘…some autographs to get for a little 11 year old who has just started playing football. And I daren’t go home without one from Beth Mead and Millie Bright!’. We then bonded over our adoration for Beth Mead!
To Chapman, the crucial next step for women’s football is to be accessible to all. She says ‘It’s got to be in schools. Especially for the girls, it has to be in schools. It has to be open to everybody, absolutely everybody. I think not just senior schools, its got to go right down to the 5 year olds, the 6 year olds, 7 year olds. And more schools of excellence so that these people can go.’ ‘…It’s got to be that it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what you do, you can play football’.
A press conference with Sarina Wiegman is expected to commence this evening at 4:30 with a player who is yet to be announced.
Support the Lionesses this week!
England vs. USA – Friday 7th October – Streaming live on ITV
England vs. Czech Republic – Tuesday 11th October – Streaming live on ITV