Chelsea star Lauren James back in England squad and set for Lionesses return after six-month absence | OneFootball

James called up by Sarina Wiegman for October friendlies against Germany and South Africa

Lauren James is set to make her first appearance for the Lionesses in six months after she was named in the squad for this month’s friendlies with Germany and South Africa.

James has not featured for England since April, when she scored in a 2-0 win over the Republic of Ireland.

Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy also returns to the squad after missing July’s all-important Euro 2025 qualifiers with the Republic of Ireland and Sweden due to injury.

Goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse retains her place in the squad as her record-breaking NWSL season continues.

Aggie Beever-Jones and Jessica Naz retain their places after impressing in the summer having moved up from the Under-23s.

England will face Germany on Friday next week, in a repeat of the Euro 2022 Final, before hosting South Africa in Coventry.

Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman said: “This is an important international window for us and I can’t wait to get back together at St George’s Park. The players and staff worked hard to automatically secure our place in next summer’s Euros, allowing all of our focus and attention to now go into making sure we’re ready for the tournament.

“Qualifying directly for the finals provides us with a very valuable opportunity to play four friendlies this autumn and lay the foundations for next summer. We’ve been able to carefully select our opponents and we’ve got two exciting and different challenges this window.

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“To play Germany at Wembley is very special and it’s so important that we get experience of executing our style of play against top opponents.

“Then South Africa in Coventry, a city and a stadium we know well, will test us in different ways. They showed in the World Cup in 2023 how quickly they are progressing and the high level they are at now. We’ll need to be at our very best on both evenings.”