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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00:00England woman's manager Serena Veekman has ruled out Lauren James with a foot injury
00:05as her side prepare to take on France at St. James' Park in Newcastle.
00:09No, not everyone's available for selection.
00:11Lauren James didn't make it, so she's not selected for tomorrow.
00:16Jess Naas will be added to the group.
00:20She already had some foot problems at club, so she came in
00:24and we hoped that we could build her to tomorrow, but it's just too early.
00:28Unfortunately, she can't stay with us.
00:30Despite being on the cusp of June, the weather in the northeast is rather hit and miss currently,
00:35much like England women's start to defending their European championship
00:39following victory over the Republic of Ireland before a draw with Sweden in qualifying so far.
00:44Captain Leah Williamson made clear the importance of the upcoming games
00:48and brushed off any suggestions of fatigue.
00:51Sometimes you get to a camp at the end of a season
00:53and you can feel that everybody's ready to go on holiday.
00:57I don't feel that this week.
00:58I feel like everybody knows the magnitude of these two games regardless of the opponent.
01:03It's a competitive fixture, which is what we've always said we love playing in.
01:09It's an exciting day tomorrow.
01:13We're off the back of two years of really intense football as well,
01:17but I think that's been nice this week.
01:19We were talking about it earlier that it feels everybody's focused, which is good.
01:24Nobody's run out of steam yet, so that's what we need.
01:28The northeast has produced many lionesses over the years
01:31and is now a region where three clubs will compete in the women's championship next season.
01:36Wiegman spoke about Newcastle United women
01:38and looked ahead to her first experience at St. James' Park.
01:42Yeah, it's very nice to be in this area again.
01:45We've been here twice now.
01:47We played at Sunderland and now we play Newcastle.
01:51I've never been in that stadium before.
01:53I hear all the time it's an incredible stadium.
01:57It's almost sold out, so that's going to be very great too.
02:02The fans show up and support us again.
02:05Of course, I have heard some things about the women's team
02:08that a lot of fans, when they did play in the stadium, a lot of fans showed up.
02:14So that's just really nice.
02:16Of course, we all hope that in every place of England,
02:19but in every place of the world, we want to grow the game.
02:22You want to go to the next level and people enjoy it.
02:26Finally, Millie Bright makes her long-awaited return to the England squad
02:30following an injury.
02:32Williamson outlined her happiness at Bright being back
02:35and what she brings to the set-up.
02:38Yeah, it's been a nice week.
02:40It's the first time that me and Millie have been back in the squad together for a long time.
02:46So it's been nice in that regard.
02:49I think we've got a really strong unit.
02:52I mentioned it about coming back into the squad,
02:54about how well they've performed and how they've raised the level.
02:58So it's good to all be back.