England boss Sarina Wiegman has expressed her hope that Steph Houghton will be fit for this summer’s home Euros while emphasising it will be “really tight”.
Houghton, the Lionesses’ captain since 2014, made her return from an Achilles injury with Manchester City in January but subsequently suffered a recurrence and underwent surgery last month.
City boss Gareth Taylor earlier this month said it would be “really tight” in terms of the 33-year-old defender getting to the Euros, and that was echoed on Tuesday by Wiegman as she named another Houghton-less squad ahead of the World Cup qualifiers away against North Macedonia and Northern Ireland next month.
Wiegman told a press conference: “I’ve spoken to her of course. It’s going to be really tight. She’s doing everything she is capable of. Everything that’s in her control she will do to make the Euros, and we’ll see.
“She takes step by step. She’s still in the first period of her rehab, hopefully she proceeds well, and from there we’ll see.
“The competitiveness in this team is really high. She has had a tremendous CV with us, so I hope she’ll make it. But first of all she needs to be on the pitch to start training and then be fit enough to be on the pitch every day to train and recover well. That’s a little farther away.”
Asked how late she would be able to make a decision on Houghton, Wiegman said: “We’ll give her a little more time, because we know she needs that. But with the history she has with this team, the contribution she has had over the years, I would like to give her a little more time.
Everything that's in her control she will do to make the Euros, and we'll see
“But she needs to be fit and playing well, and she’s been out for a long time. So we just have to see how it goes. We are in contact with her all the time. She has a clear plan and we just keep each other updated about the situation.”
Another notable absentee from the 24-strong squad is Fran Kirby, who has not featured in any of Chelsea’s last six matches, with boss Emma Hayes saying she was giving the forward some recovery time after a hectic schedule stretching back to last summer.
Wiegman said: “Fran is doing OK. She’s at the club, has her own programme and hasn’t played for about three weeks. She’s not ready to play and hopefully she’ll be back on the pitch pretty soon, but don’t know yet.”
Kirby’s club-mate Beth England returns after missing out on selection for last month’s Arnold Clark Cup due to injury, and Lotte Wubben-Moy, withdrawn from that squad to work on rehabilitation, is back in the fold as well.
Also in the 24 is Wubben-Moy’s fellow Arsenal defender Leah Williamson, the player most frequently given the England armband by Wiegman in Houghton’s absence.
Wiegman said a decision on who will skipper for these next two matches will emerge after the players join up with the squad.
She also said she had not considered including Chloe Kelly, the winger who could make her return from an ACL injury for City this weekend.
“Of course we know how good she was when she got injured,” Wiegman said.
“There’s contact all the time. She needs rhythm now. That’s where it starts, playing and getting consistency at club level, and then you can take the next step. We keep a close eye on her.”
With less than 100 days to go until the Euros, Wiegman said of her thinking about her squad for the tournament: “We’ve used around 27, 28 players throughout this season, so most likely when they keep performing, stay fit, some other players might come back that are still recovering, but that might be the group that’s close because otherwise they wouldn’t be in the squad.
“But it’s all about keeping fit and keep showing what they are capable of. And it doesn’t mean the door is closed for any other player – but if all of a sudden a total new player would come in now, then we would have probably made the wrong decisions earlier.”
England, victorious in all six World Cup qualifiers so far, scoring 53 goals and conceding none, face North Macedonia in Skopje a week on Friday and then Northern Ireland – one of their Euros group-stage opponents – at Windsor Park four days later.
They are unbeaten in nine matches since Wiegman took charge last September, with their three games in February en route to winning the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup seeing them draw with Canada and Spain and beat Germany.
