Arsenal and Chelsea stars amongst eight English-based players called up by Australia

Arsenal pair Lydia Williams and Caitlin Foord and Chelsea’s Sam Kerr are among eight Barclays FA Women’s Super League players to be called up to the latest Australia squad.

The Westfield Matildas will play two European international friendlies this month against Germany in Wiesbaden on Saturday 10 April and against The Netherlands in Nijmegen on Tuesday 13 April.

Head coach Tony Gustavsson named his 23-player squad late last night with FAWSL Full-Time being informed via an official Westfield Matildas press release. Eight English-based players were included while only two members of the 23-player squad are currently playing their football outside of Europe.

Arsenal’s Williams and Foord and Chelsea’s Kerr have been joined in the squad by West Ham United duo Mackenzie Arnold and Emily van Egmond, Everton’s Hayley Raso, Tottenham Hotspur’s Alanna Kennedy and Bristol City’s Ella Mastrantonio. Van Egmond is the most experienced senior international of those eight players, should she feature in both games she will move onto 99 caps.

Australia haven’t played a competitive fixture since the March 2020 international window when they defeated Vietnam 7-1 on aggregate in their Women’s Olympic Qualifying Asia final tie. Gustavsson’s side will use their latest games to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Daniel Pentland

I am the editor and owner of FAWSL Full-Time magazine. I have been reporting on men’s and women’s football at various levels since summer 2015. Some of the events which I have reported from include the 2017 UEFA Women’s European Championship, 2018 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019, SSE Women’s FA Cup final, Emirates FA Cup final, UEFA Europa League, English Football League and various international matches.

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