Sarina Wiegman praised Ella Toone for her reaction to being left out by England after handing the Manchester United midfielder a second chance.
Wiegman originally omitted Toone from her squad for the two-legged World Cup qualifier against Greece along with fellow regular Chloe Kelly, saying she expected more from the pair.
But a minor injury to Lucy Bronze has seen Wiegman reverse her decision and call up Toone after all.
Ella Toone has been called up to the #Lionesses squad for our upcoming @FIFAWWC round one play-off ties against Greece.
Lucy Bronze will return to Chelsea to manage a minor injury.
Read more 👉 https://t.co/QVSCToafvC pic.twitter.com/a0lPs9y1UR
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) October 8, 2026
The 27-year-old had headed off to Spain following United’s 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the Women’s Super League last weekend but is now joining up with the England squad in Crete ahead of Friday’s first leg.
Wiegman told a press conference: “When I gave her the call, of course that was a hard call, but she took that straight away.
“Of course (she was) very disappointed but the first thing she did was, ‘OK I’m going to get back, how am I going to do that?’
“That answer in the game, also the way she spoke about it, I thought that was really good. And then getting everything ready to go to Spain but go for training there, that really impressed me.
“She was in Spain and she was training really hard, and of course enjoying herself a bit too. But she has had a lot of load under her belt this week so she’s in a good place.”
Explaining why she chose to replace defender Bronze with a midfielder, Wiegman added: “I think we have enough defenders for how we want to play tomorrow, we have enough options in the position where Lucy would play.
“If we look at the balance of the team, then this was the best decision.”
England missed out on direct qualification for next year’s World Cup to reigning champions Spain on goal difference, meaning they must work their way through the qualifiers.
They will be strong favourites against Greece, who finished top of their group in League C and have never qualified for a World Cup or European Championship.
Final touches before Greece 🔜 pic.twitter.com/Vy6ydvGGsS
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) October 8, 2026
Wiegman said of qualification: “Of course that’s the main goal and then we bring it back to what do we have to do tomorrow.
“We’re fully focused on how do we want to play, what do we expect from Greece – we’ve never played them before, they’ve done well in their campaign, too. We absolutely want to dominate that game tomorrow, and win it of course.”
The England matches are taking place against the backdrop of intense attention on Manchester City, as well as a poor start to the season for Arsenal in the WSL.
“When the players come in, of course you know they can’t just park things, so we have a little chat,” said Wiegman.
“They want to be here. They’re professionals and they really want to perform, so their focus now is really on England.”
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