New England Women head coach Sarina Wiegman has called up several young players including Racing Louisville forward Ebony Salmon, in the squad for her first two matches in charge of the Lionesses.
The Dutch coach has also given Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps a recall for the first time since 2019, while Manchester City full-back Esme Morgan and Manchester United midfielder Katie Zelem could get their first caps, in something of an injury-hit squad.
England will take on North Macedonia next Friday, 17th September, in their first match of Wiegman’s tenure and the first fixture of their qualifying campaign for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. That home match at Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium will be followed by a trip to Luxembourg on 21st September.
Also in Women’s World Cup qualifying Group D are Austria, Northern Ireland and Latvia. The tournament finals will be staged by joint-hosts Australia and New Zealand in two years’ time, after England host next summer’s Women’s European Championships.
Manchester City right-back Lucy Bronze, the Fifa Best player of the Year for 2020, is absent from the squad as she continues her recovery from pre-planned knee surgery that she underwent in August.
Bronze’s Man City team-mate, winger Chloe Kelly, is a much longer-term absentee after suffering an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury towards the end of last season.
Man City and England’s number-one goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck and defensive midfielder Keira Walsh (both calf) are also uninvolved, while Manchester City’s backup goalkeeper Karen Bardsley remains out with a hamstring issue.
Former Bristol City striker Salmon, 20, earned her first cap in February in a 6-0 win over Northern Ireland but was not involved with Great Britain’s Olympics setup this summer, and is one of several young talents being given a chance by Wiegman.
The Lionesses have reached the semi-finals of their past three major international tournaments. Wiegman, who won Euro 2017 when in charge of her home nation, Holland, also led the Dutch to the 2019 World Cup final.
She was announced as Phil Neville’s successor last year, and has now arrived after leading the Dutch to the quarter-finals of the delayed Tokyo Olympics.