England head coach Hege Riise has named a 21-player squad for the forthcoming June international camp.
Riise has opted for a pared-back England squad consisting predominantly of those England players who have been selected to represent Team GB Football at this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. With the additions of goalkeepers Carly Telford and Hannah Hampton.
Nikita Parris will be fully integrated into the majority of the squad’s activities but will be rested from travelling to Bisham Abbey for the training camp in order to manage her load after a long and demanding season.
The squad will meet up at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre on Sunday 6 June. During the six-day training camp there will be a keen focus on managing players’ individual development plans and training loads as well as preparing the Tokyo-bound players for the physical conditions they will experience in Japan.
Last week’s Team GB squad announcement saw players selected on the basis of a rigorous independent assessment of ability, mentality, physical fitness and versatility; crucial to successfully managing the demands of a major tournament. The England cohort will be further challenged against these criteria to ensure they are optimally prepared in readiness for Team GB Football’s Olympic campaign.
England head coach Hege Riise said: “Whilst this is purely an England camp, it felt sensible to really focus in now on preparations for the Olympics with the English players who have been selected for Team GB.
“Scotland’s Kim Little and Caroline Weir and Wales’ Sophie Ingle will potentially be in action when the two nations meet in this international window. We will watch that match with great interest as well as ensuring we keep in regular touch with them before we meet for the first GB Football camp on 17 June.
“Whilst England men begin their UEFA EURO campaign at St. George’s Park, we are excited to be basing ourselves at Bisham Abbey and look forward to making full use of their acclimation chambers as part of our work to prepare players for the hot and humid conditions we will face in Japan.
“I also look forward to seeing Carly Telford and Hannah Hampton on this camp. They narrowly missed out on selection for Team GB but they both have a very exciting future with England as we look ahead to the home UEFA Women’s EURO next summer and the FIFA Women’s World Cup beyond that.”
I find it odd that the home nation’s Football Associations have arranged these individual get-togethers as I would have thought a combined Team GB camp would be much more suitable.
The squad in full: Karen Bardsley, Ellie Roebuck, Sandy MacIver, Carly Telford, Hannah Hampton, Millie Bright, Lucy Bronze, Rachel Daly, Steph Houghton, Demi Stokes, Leah Williamson, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Jill Scott, Keira Walsh, Niamh Charles, Lauren Hemp, Fran Kirby, Nikita Parris, Georgia Stanway, Ellen White and Ella Toone.
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