Injured Beth Mead would need 'miracle' recovery to play at 2023 Women's World Cup, says England boss Sarina Wiegman
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Published 28/03/2023 at 14:15 GMT
Beth Mead is unlikely to be fit for England's World Cup campaign this summer according to Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman. The striker has been out of action since rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament in a Women's Super League match for Arsenal earlier this season and Wiegman says the player is "not in our plans" for the tournament in Australia.
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England manager Sarina Wiegman has said it would take a ‘miracle’ for injured striker Beth Mead to make the Lionesses World Cup squad.
Arsenal striker Mead, who was the tournament joint top scorer as England won Euro 2022, ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in a Women’s Super League match last November.
With the World Cup beginning on July 20, Wiegman cast serious doubt on the 27-year-old recovering in time for the tournament in Australia.
Speaking after naming her squad for matches against Brazil and the World Cup hosts in April, Wiegman said that the focus was on Mead to make a full recovery.
"What we said now is, she's not in our plans now, just to really take the time to get back well," she told the BBC.
"If a miracle happens and she goes [through recovery] so fast, we will reconsider it, but at this moment I don't expect that."
Wiegman added: "She's done really well in her rehabilitation. But if you look at the timescale you normally have with an injury like this she would not make the World Cup.
"We had that discussion. We're not going to push or take risks that will cause this injury again. Of course she wants to play, but she knows."
Mead has 50 caps for her country scoring 29 goals to date.
She made her England debut in 2018 against Wales and scored her first goals in a 6-0 win over Kazakhstan a few months later.
Mead scored six times as England won the European Championship on home soil in the summer of 2022, and also racked up five assists as she was named player of the tournament.
She has also scored 57 times for Arsenal having joined the Gunners from Sunderland in 2017.
England play their first World Cup group game against Haiti on July 20 followed by matches against Denmark (July 28) and China (August 1).
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