West Ham’s Lucy Parker could be in line for an England debut at Wembley next month after being recalled to Sarina Wiegman’s squad ahead of the Finalissima meeting with Brazil.
The defender was named in a Lionesses squad for the first time back in October, ahead of friendlies against the USA and Czech Republic, but was forced to drop out through injury.
However, the 24-year-old is back in Wiegman’s 25-player group for an international break that will see the Euro 2022 winners take on South American champions Brazil in the first Women’s Finalissima, before meeting World Cup co-hosts Australia at Brentford.
Aston Villa goalkeeper Hannah Hampton has been recalled to the squad for the first time since last summer’s Euros, having reportedly been dropped by Wiegman due to concerns about her attitude.
Manchester City defender Esme Morgan is also back in the fold, but there is no place for Arsenal centre-back Lotte Wubben-Moy, who along with Katie Zelem, Ebony Salmon and the injured Emily Ramsey is one of four players left out from the squad that won the Arnold Clark Cup last month.
Chelsea defender Millie Bright is included despite the injury scare that saw her forced off in last week’s Champions League win over Lyon and then miss the weekend’s WSL defeat by Manchester City, but England remain without the injured Fran Kirby and Beth Mead, while Beth England's wait for a recall continues.
“We are getting closer to the World Cup and I can’t think of two better games to assess our progress,” Wiegman said. “After these games, there will be less than three months until we fly to the tournament and we must make every second on and off the pitch count.
“For us as a technical staff this will be the last chance to see the players within our England environment before we come together for the final preparation phase in June. And these two matches will be two real tests to see where we are at.
“This is a major new trophy and to compete for it at a sold-out Wembley is another special moment, both for us as a team but also for our fans. We will never take these occasions for granted and I want to see how we perform against two teams that will be hoping to challenge for the World Cup.”
