Wiegman says Houghton was considered for World Cup

England manager Sarina Wiegman says former captain Steph Houghton was “in our conversations” despite being left out of the World Cup squad.

The absence of senior players Leah Williamson and Fran Kirby due to injury had led to calls for Houghton’s return.

But the Manchester City defender, who captained England for eight years, was not named in the 23-player squad.

“She has been in our conversations all the time too for the defence,” said Wiegman, when asked if Houghton had been considered.

“With the whole technical staff we have spoken about that. I had a conversation with her yesterday.”

Houghton has 121 caps for England and played in five major tournaments, her last being the 2019 World Cup.

The most-capped player in the England squad is right-back Lucy Bronze, 31, who has made 104 appearances for the Lionesses, but she says she does not feel any added responsibility because of her experience.

“I feel like I’m going into the tournament the same as any other tournament,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“As I’ve got older I love talking to the younger players and helping them out, but I have in previous tournaments as well.

“There are players going to the tournament with different levels of experience, different understanding of how it feels to go to tournaments. I’m the most experienced but it doesn’t feel any different to me.”

The Barcelona defender says the absence of Arsenal centre-back Williamson and Chelsea’s Kirby means the team will approach this tournament differently to Euro 2022.

She added: “Everyone was probably expecting Sarina to play the same XI like she did in the Euros but things have changed now that we have players missing who would normally be playing every single game. We’ve got to be able to adapt now.”

The Lionesses will also be without Euro 2022 top scorer Beth Mead through injury, but Wiegman has many options in attack.

They include Manchester City duo Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly, Chelsea’s Lauren James and Manchester United striker Alessia Russo – and Bronze is excited.

“All our forwards are super exciting,” she said. “They’ve got something to offer in different positions, in different combinations – it’s an exciting team to be part of.”

Frustration at schedule delays

Wiegman confirmed in April that England were hoping to play a warm-up match in the UK before flying to Australia.

Initial plans were for the squad to meet on 19 June, but a recent proposal – put forward by the European Clubs’ Association (ECA) – suggested players should only be released for international duty 10 days before the tournament begins on 20 July.

Germany boss Martina Voss-Tecklenburg said on Wednesday that Bayern Munich had informed her they would not be releasing players until 23 June, despite an earlier agreement to do so on 20 June.

That could affect England and Bayern midfielder Georgia Stanway, with Wiegman admitting she hopes they can “negotiate” an earlier release date.

“At this point it’s hard, but we’re trying to get the conversation going again,” added Wiegman.

The recent proposals put forward by the ECA has also led to a delay in England and the Football Association finalising their preparations for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

“The reason why we can’t tell anything [about the warm-up matches] is because that has to do with when we start,” added Wiegman.

“If we start on the 19 June we have enough days to get ready for such a game, if we start later then the players are even longer out from football and then you have too short a time to get ready for a fixture.

“Of course that’s frustrating, because we have all our plans and we thought we were all set and then like a month ago, all of a sudden things change.

“I think this is not the time to do this. It’s a time to do that later and solve it after this tournament.”

There have also been ongoing conversations with Fifa on whether captains will be allowed to wear OneLove armbands at the World Cup.

“I heard they’re still in talks,” said Wiegman. “I expect that to be solved before the tournament starts, from what I heard – but I don’t know any more on that.”