Overview
- England confirmed Thursday that Lucy Bronze withdrew with a minor knock suffered for Chelsea and that Ella Toone has been drafted into the squad as a late replacement.
- Toone had been omitted from Wiegman’s original 23-player selection for form reasons, and she said the omission was hard but that she would use it as fuel to come back stronger.
- The Lionesses have travelled to Crete for the first leg in Heraklion with the return fixture scheduled at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on 13 October and the tie feeding into a later play-off against Slovakia or Ukraine for World Cup qualification.
- Wiegman explained she kept defensive depth available and chose Toone to restore balance in the squad rather than replace Bronze with another full-back.
- Toone brings 69 caps, 24 goals and two Euro-winning campaigns to the group, and her recall highlights Wiegman’s form-led selection policy while giving England a proven attacking option for the qualifiers.