Last week saw a return to the training pitches at St George’s Park for Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses as they look to embark on an exciting journey this summer heading into the home UEFA Women’s EURO.
FAWSL Full-Time attended a planned England media session and spoke to vice-captain Millie Bright about a number of matters including the return to England’s training base, squad competition and the captaincy.
“I’m buzzing to be back,” said Bright. “As soon as you get to camp and get your boots back on, it’s back onto the grass like you’ve never been away.”
The experienced defender, who holds 49 caps for her country, endured a long but in the end, incredible season with her club Chelsea as they lifted their third consecutive Barclays FA Women’s Super League title. Bright went on to express her excitement to be back with the England girls after a well-deserved two-week break for all.
She said “It’s really refreshing. Everyone’s in a great place physically and mentally and we’re excited to get going as a group. First and foremost, we want to focus on the prep camp and make sure we’re in the best possible place leading into the tournament.
“We’re putting the hard graft in, in training sessions and everyone looks really good after the break which was needed after this season. This is the best prepared we will have been for a tournament and we’re going to do absolutely everything to make sure we’re ready for that first game.”
With not long to go until the tournament kicks-off on 6 July in front of a sell-out crowd at Old Trafford, England boss Wiegman has to whittle her provisional squad of 28 down to 23, something which will certainly be a tough task.
“The talent that this group has is incredible,” said Bright. “The pool of players that can be picked from is ridiculous. There are some special players in our group so it’s really raising the levels of our team.”
Bright was also full of praise for newly-appointed captain Leah Williamson, who received the news of her leadership back in April.
She said “Leah has been herself and I think that’s the most important thing. Sometimes people compare captains to previous captains, but for me she just needs to keep being who she is and the player that has got her into the position she’s in.
“She doesn’t need to change anything and that’s been a nice thing to see and she hasn’t felt like she has to do anything different.”
England will return to the national football centre tomorrow for a further five-day preparation camp as their build-up to UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 continues.
By Megan Garbutt