Lauren James: Forward returns as Sarina Wiegman names England squad for 'valuable' Germany and South Africa friendlies
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Published 15/10/2024 at 11:03 GMT+1
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Sarina Wiegman has named her 25-player squad for October friendlies against Germany and South Africa as England begin preparations for their European Championship title defence next summer. Lauren James, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Lucy Parker return from injury to earn call-ups for the double-header. "We’ve got two exciting and different challenges this window," Wiegman said.
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Lauren James is one of three players to return to the England squad following injury for October friendlies against Germany and South Africa.
The Chelsea star, who has seven goals in 24 Lionesses caps to her name, was named in Sarina Wiegman’s 25-player squad and could make her first international appearance since April.
James and Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy were recalled after missing July’s qualifying matches, while Aston Villa’s Lucy Parker is back in the squad for the first time in a year following injury.
England face Germany at Wembley on Friday, October 25 in a repeat of the Euro 2022 final, which the Lionesses won 2-1 to lift the trophy.
They then face South Africa in Coventry on Tuesday, October 29, the first meeting between the nations for more than 10 years.
England qualified for Euro 2025 in Switzerland as group runners-up behind France, and attention now turns to preparing for their title defence.
“The players and staff worked hard to automatically secure our place in next summer’s Euro, allowing all of our focus and attention to now go into making sure we’re ready for the tournament when it begins July 2,” Wiegman said.
“Qualifying directly for the finals provides us with a very valuable opportunity to play four friendlies this autumn and lay the foundations for next summer.
“We’ve been able to carefully select our opponents, and we’ve got two exciting and different challenges this window.
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“To play Germany at Wembley Stadium is very special, and it’s so important that we get experience of executing our style of play against top opponents. Then South Africa in Coventry, a city and a stadium we know well, will test us in different ways.
“They showed in the World Cup in 2023 how quickly they are progressing and the high level they are at now. We’ll need to be at our very best on both evenings.”
Following the tests against Germany and South Africa, England will take on Olympic gold medallists the United States at Wembley on Saturday, November 30 and Euro 2025 hosts Switzerland at Bramall Lane in Sheffield on Tuesday, December 3.
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