Lauren James ruled out of France clash in Toon
Lionesses’ star Lauren James has been ruled out of England’s European Championship qualifying match with France at St. James’ Park in Newcastle, Sarina Wiegman has confirmed. James will also miss the reverse fixture next week. Meanwhile, captain Leah Williamson has spoken of the squad not being fatigued, and recognising the importance of the upcoming games. Daniel Wales reports.
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00:00 England woman's manager Serena Vietman has ruled out Lauren James with a foot injury
00:05 as her side prepare to take on France at St James' Park in Newcastle.
00:09 No, not everyone's available for selection.
00:11 LJ didn't make, Lauren James didn't make it, so she's not selected for tomorrow.
00:16 Jess Naas will be added to the group.
00:20 She already had some foot problems at club, so she came in and we hoped that we could build her to tomorrow,
00:26 but it's just too early, so unfortunately she can't stay with us.
00:30 Despite being on the cusp of June, the weather in the North East is rather hit and miss currently,
00:35 much like England woman's start to defending their European Championship,
00:39 following victory over the Republic of Ireland before a draw with Sweden in qualifying so far.
00:44 Captain Leah Williamson made clear the importance of the upcoming games
00:48 and brushed off any suggestions of fatigue.
00:51 Sometimes you get to a camp at the end of a season and you can feel that everybody's ready to go on holiday.
00:57 I don't feel that this week. I feel like everybody knows, obviously, the magnitude of these two games, regardless of the opponent.
01:03 And it's a competitive fixture, which is what we've always said we love playing in.
01:09 So, yeah, it's an exciting, exciting day tomorrow.
01:13 We're off the back of two years of really intense football as well, but I think that's been nice this week.
01:19 We were talking about it earlier that it feels everybody's focus, which is good.
01:24 Nobody's run out of steam yet, so that's what we need.
01:28 The North East has produced many lionesses over the years
01:31 and is now a region where three clubs will compete in the Women's Championship next season.
01:36 Wiegman spoke about Newcastle United woman and looked ahead to her first experience at St James' Park.
01:42 Yeah, it's very nice to be in this area again.
01:45 We've been here twice now. We played at Sunderland and now we play Newcastle.
01:51 I've never been in that stadium before. I hear all the time it's an incredible stadium.
01:56 It's almost sold out, so that's going to be very great too.
02:02 The fans show up and support us again.
02:05 Of course, I have heard some things about the women's team that a lot of fans,
02:10 when they did play in the stadium, a lot of fans showed up.
02:14 So that's just really nice.
02:16 Of course, we all hope that in every place of England, but in every place of the world,
02:20 we want to grow the game and we want to go to the next level and people enjoy it.
02:26 Finally, Millie Bright makes her long-awaited return to the England squad following an injury.
02:31 Williamson outlined her happiness at Bright being back and what she brings to the set-up.
02:37 It's been a nice week. It's the first time that me and Millie have been back in the squad together for a long time.
02:45 It's been nice in that regard. I think we've got a really strong unit.
02:51 I mentioned it about coming back into the squad, about how well they performed and how they've raised the level.
02:57 It's good to all be back.
02:59 We'll be back.