Team Overview: England

As we edge ever closer to the start of the UEFA Women’s European Championships, the Lionesses are in favour to win the tournament. After players became unavailable and retired before the tournament, Sarina Wiegman had to make very crucial decisions as to who to select for the tournament.

📸via Lionesses on Instagram

Now we are days away from the Lionesses opening match against France as they kick off their defence of the trophy. Even though the lionesses are favoured to win after some rocky performances recently we really can’t tell when they are going to have good form. Which also can send some worrying

thoughts throughout the fanbase, since Mary Earps retired throughout the goalkeeper union at England they share a total of 15 caps which are all Hannah Hamptons.

Key defender Millie Bright is missing from the squad after withdrawing from selection to work on her mental and physical well-being after a very long and demanding season with Chelsea. This means that the backline does become less experienced but with the most recent back line of Lucy Bronze, Leah Williamson, Jess Carter and Alex Greenwood who kept a clean sheet in a massive win over the Reggae Girls [Jamaica], showing the world that they are wanting to win and aren’t going to go out without a fight.

Also with the retirement of Fran Kirby, Wiegman only named 6 midfielders in her squad, who are all very experienced in their positions.

When it comes to the forwards Sarina did call up Michelle Agyemang who is 19 and has excelled while being on loan at Brighton from Arsenal. Despite her age she is showing that she will be a starting player for the Lionesses who can change games just by entering the field.

Wiegman has also called up Arsenal's star striker Alessia Russo, who scored a wonder backheel against Sweden during the last European tournament.

The England captain, Leah Williamson was appointed in 2022 taking over from Steph Houghton who had been captain since 2014. 28-year-old Leah Williamson is a very experienced centre back. She is becoming a legend of the WSL after starting her career in 2014 at Arsenal and still being at the club to this day. She started her England career in 2018 and then going on to win the Euros 6 years later. She then suffered an ACL injury in April 2023, meaning she would not get to go to the World Cup. Leah has captained the lionesses through glory and through bad patches. The England National Team are very experienced technically and are very hard to play against if you haven’t got the same technical skill. However the lionesses do struggle with very technical teams such as Spain as we have seen in the World Cup Final and again in the Nations League.

We are looking forward to seeing the Lionesses during this tournament and how they are going to perform.