England squad announcement LIVE: Sarina Wiegman to name squad for World Cup qualifiers

Pattinson is 'pro-active' and 'really wants to play forwards'

England

England head coach Sarina Wiegman signed off her news conference with her thoughts on giving Poppy Pattinson a first senior call-up: "We have followed her for a long time. When she was at Brighton, with the [England] Under-23s and earlier. She is fit now, she has played for a while. She has had some good performances for London City Lionesses.

"She is a left full-back, very proactive, across the whole wing. She takes a lot of initiative and what I really like to is she really wants to play forwards and find a way to play forwards.

"She is very energetic. I like the performances and she can show that in our environment.

"She was very excited about the call-up."

'We have just one goal, to perform at our highest level'

England

More from England head coach Sarina Wiegman on having so many of the Euro 2025 winners, like Hannah Hampton and Alex Greenwood, back in camp: "I think there is always dynamics in the group and you know every player, every human being brings something different because everyone is unique and brings unique personalities.

"I think the team know each other pretty well but we always pay attention to that because I am a strong believer in connections. Every player who comes into our environment is very talented but then it is how do we bring everyone together? How do we do that and how does everyone else take responsibility to do so?

"We have just one goal, to perform at our highest level. Make the chance of winning as high as possible. Yes, dynamics change a little, but we know where we want to go to and that brings them together already."

'In all the parts the level needs to go up' - Wiegman on supporting players

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Sarina Wiegman on whether player care has kept pace with the increased schedule: "I think there is a lot of attention on it. Clubs do everything to monitor a player and support. If you bring it to our environment we stay in close connection to clubs. We try to align with the load the players have at their club.

"I also think there is so much research going on now and so much more knowledge already in the women's game about female athletes. Still a lot of research is done and that needs time too. That takes a while.

"Everyone is really committed to get everything in a better place. You can see on the pitch that the levels are just going up and up and it is really exciting to be a part of, but in all the parts the level needs to go up.

"The level of commitment [is there] to do that better and people taking responsibility to get that to the next level too."

'The message is we want to qualify as soon as possible'

England

England head coach Sarina Wiegman on her message to the players at the start of this World Cup qualifying campaign: "First of all that we are really excited to be back. The message is we want to qualify as soon as possible. That is a huge challenge with the group we have, but I am excited to see that and how we want to do that."

England will qualify directly for the 2027 World Cup by finishing top of their four-team group, which includes world champions Spain, Ukraine and Iceland. Fail to finish top and they will face the play-offs in the autumn.

'I think we are in a good place'

England

England head coach Sarina Wiegman on whether she wanted to organise a third game in this international window: "We didn't decide, it's a type two window. That is new for us. That window also gives you the option to play three games. My opinion and the FA's opinion is that at this moment we think it is best to play two.

"With the congested agenda and the amount of games the players play, we didn't want to use the third one.

"In the ideal world we would have wanted to play the first game a little earlier, it would have been best to play on the weekend so you have a little bit more time in between.

"We can't control that, so we play on Tuesday and Saturday, with some time. It's a different set up. We have some more time to train.

"Sometimes it might look to you that we have time to train, but we hardly have time to train when players come in from the weekend. There is some recovery and a tactical training session, but then you go and get ready for the game itself.

"Now we have a little more time, which is nice. I think we are in a good place."

'No update on my future'

England

Sarina Wiegman on her own future as England head coach, with her current contract ending after the 2027 World Cup: "No there is no update, it is pretty far away the World Cup. No, I have said that before. We are in conversation all of the time and we are still very happy from both sides. We are now really focusing on this qualification, we want to qualify. The best possible way to do that is in June and we are going for that. Let's first do that."

And on how she will make sure the uncertainty around her future with England doesn't become a distraction: "There is no distraction whatsoever. Everyone is really focused on this qualification. We are really excited to get started. It is also really nice to play Ukraine and Iceland, which this generation has not played. So I am excited about that and so is the team. I haven't heard anyone in my team or staff that has been occupied with that."

'Very sad and heartbreaking what Ukraine has experienced'

England

More from Sarina Wiegman on travelling to Turkey for the game against Ukraine:

"First of all it is very sad and heartbreaking what Ukraine has experienced that we can't play in Ukraine.

"The alternative is to go to Turkey, it is far away but the accommodation and training ground we have is a good solution.

"It is a realisation moment that last week one of our team members had a conversation with one of their team members about this camp and in Kyiv they are in fear because there is so much violence there. That is heartbreaking."

Why wasn't Keating selected?

England

England head coach Sarina Wiegman on why Manchester City goalkeeper Khiara Keating hasn't been selected: "She will be with the under-23s. We all know that she is a very talented goalkeeper. She has been in our environment a lot over the last few years. But I have concerns about her playing minutes over this last season. It's a long period of time and the competition with the other goalkeepers of course. We have invited her for the under-23s and we are still in close connection with her."

And on Aston Villa keeper Ellie Roebuck: "She came in the last camp because we had some injuries. She got some minutes and she is in a better place. She had some setbacks over the last few years. It was really good to see her back, to see her happy and to see her being available. Playing and training fully."

'We know the calendar is congested'

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England head coach Sarina Wiegman on the busy football calendar, the impact on players of going deep into summer international tournaments and whether that increases the risk of injuries: "I think it is the total calendar. We are all very excited about the growth of the game and the level of the game, intensity and we know the calendar is congested. Yes, there is always a risk, also because we play physical sport, that players get injured. I think you can't put your finger on one thing. I think it is a total picture and it is different for every single player."

'I am confident we can get a good team on the pitch'

England

England head coach Sarina Wiegman on where the squad is at, with a lot of players returning from injury: "There is a little bit of a puzzle at the moment but at the same time I think we have enough players in the squad to play good games and to have players on the pitch who are fit and can perform at the highest level.

"That is what we need to do and want to do of course. We have this week at club and then they come with us, then we have some proper time to get ready for the game on the Tuesday.

"We will see where we get, but I am confident we can get a good team on the pitch."

And on injuries to Beth Mead and Ella Toone: "Of course you want them in the team. You know you have seen in all of the camps we have had players have lots of games, very high level and there are always a couple of players who are injured who we can't bring in. That's part of our football life too.

"You just have to move on and hopefully the players get fit soon and we have more options. The more options the better it is for us and the harder to make the right decisions. It's part of life now and hopefully for the players they get fit quick."

'I am happy Williamson is back'

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England head coach Sarina Wiegman on being able to call upon Leah Williamson again after her recovery from a knee injury: "I am very happy. It feels very good for her too, she wanted to be back. [There are other players back next week] so looking forward to that."

And on how ready Williamson is to play: "She has trained, I am in close contact with her and the club [Arsenal]. She is in a good place but she does have a lack of minutes. I think there are some more players who are still building or didn't get the minutes we hoped for. That is also the reason why we have gone with a bigger squad. We do have some time to come together before we get ready for the Ukraine game."

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