Injured Beth Mead would need 'miracle' recovery to play at 2023 Women's World Cup, says England boss Sarina Wiegman

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. Ad 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.

Football'It's actually really exciting' — Wiegman admits she doesn't know strongest England XI21/02/2023 AT 17:27 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.» Chelsea and Real Madrid could join Spurs in fight for Nagelsmann – Paper Round Tottenham suffer fresh blow as surgery could rule Emerson out for season 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