FIFA Women's World Cup 2019

[Lineker]

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GROUP A

 FRANCE
 SOUTH KOREA
 NORWAY
 NIGERIA

GROUP B

 GERMANY
 CHINA PR
 SPAIN
 SOUTH AFRICA

GROUP C

 AUSTRALIA
 ITALY
 BRAZIL
 JAMAICA

GROUP D

 ENGLAND
 SCOTLAND
 ARGENTINA
 JAPAN

GROUP E

 CANADA
 CAMEROON
 NEW ZEALAND
 NETHERLANDS

GROUP F

 UNITED STATES
 THAILAND
 CHILE
 SWEDEN

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The four best third-placed teams from the six groups advance to the knockout stage along with the six group winners and six runners-up.

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The Lyon midfielder Izzy Christiansen has been left out of Phil Neville’s England 23-women squad for the World Cup after failing to recover fully from an ankle injury.

Neville’s squad was revealed one by one on Wednesday by various celebrities. Prince William started by announcing the captain Steph Houghton, and among those who followed were Emma Watson, Raheem Sterling, David Beckham and Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Christiansen, who joined Lyon from Manchester City in the summer, sustained her injury during England’s 3-0 defeat of Japan at the SheBelieves Cup and required surgery.

Lyon tweeted a video on Monday of the 27-year-old taking part in individual training for first time since her operation but the midfielder has been deemed too big a risk for the finals.

Other notable absentees are the Orlando Pride forward Chioma Ubogagu and Manchester City’s 19-year-old goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck. They have dropped out of the 25-strong squad that took part in friendlies against Canada and Spain at the start of April.

Roebuck has shared goalkeeper duties with the experienced Karen Bardsley – who is in the squad – at City this season, with the former having played 16 games in all competitions and the latter 17, primarily in the cups.

The 34-year-old Bardsley – who saved two penalties in City’s Continental Cup final shootout victory against Arsenal – is joined on the goalkeeper list by Wolfsburg’s Mary Earps and Chelsea’s Carly Telford, neither of whom are regular starters for their clubs.

Two members of Arsenal’s title-winning team, the 22-year-old centre-back Leah Williamson and 23-year-old forward Beth Mead, who has three goals from five caps in 2019, are included.

Manchester City provide eight members of the squad – more than any other club – including the PFA young player of the year, Georgia Stanway, who scored in City’s 3-0 FA Cup final defeat of West Ham on Saturday.

Birmingham’s Lucy Staniforth, who scored England’s opener against Japan in the US, keeps her place and Reading’s Jade Moore, who returned to action in January having suffered a serious ankle injury at the start of November, is also included.

Neville said: “I want to congratulate all of the players in our squad. I must also thank those who just missed out for all of their efforts. We would not be in this position without them – they have played a big part in our World Cup journey and I know they will be our biggest supporters this summer.

“Picking a squad is never easy but I believe in this group and I know they will be ready to help us perform at our very best at the finals. We know what we are capable of achieving.”

England play Denmark, ranked 17th in the world, at Walsall’s Banks’s Stadium, on 25 May before a World Cup send-off at Brighton’s Amex Stadium against New Zealand, ranked 19th, on 1 June.

The Lionesses face Scotland in their Group D opener in Nice on 9 June.

England's 23-woman squad for the World Cup
Goalkeepers: Karen Bardsley (Manchester City), Mary Earps (Wolfsburg), Carly Telford (Chelsea)
Defenders: Millie Bright (Chelsea), Lucy Bronze (Lyon), Rachel Daly (Houston Dash), Alex Greenwood (Manchester United), Steph Houghton (Manchester City), Abbie McManus (Manchester City), Demi Stokes (Manchester City), Leah Williamson (Arsenal)
Midfielders: Karen Carney (Chelsea), Jade Moore (Reading), Jill Scott (Manchester City), Lucy Staniforth (Birmingham City), Georgia Stanway (Manchester City), Keira Walsh (Manchester City)
Forwards: Toni Duggan (Barcelona), Fran Kirby (Chelsea), Beth Mead (Arsenal), Nikita Parris (Manchester City), Jodie Taylor (Seattle Reign), Ellen White (Birmingham City)

[Gazz]

3 minutes ago, Lineker said:

Prince William started by announcing the captain Steph Houghton, and among those who followed were Emma Watson, Raheem Sterling, David Beckham and Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Horrible cheating by Neville naming Sterling in the squad but I'm excited to see what Emma Watson can do in her new role of midfield enforcer.

[Meacon Keaton]

USA! USA! USA!

[MDK]

Group C is the party group and group D has some issues we need to work out.

[GA!]

Scotland in a tournament wtf

[Colly]

Doubly impressive given JK Rowling defected to the USWNT during the SheBelieves Cup.

[Lineker]

Women's World Cup 2019: the complete guide to all the stadiums

[Cymbols]

Sounds like there's been a bit of a balls up with ticketing. Families booking tickets, and having their seats nowhere near each other, that kind of thing. 

[Meacon Keaton]

Leave it to the French

[Lineker]

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David Baddiel and Frank Skinner’s football song Three Lions has been rewritten as a feminist anthem to cheer on England’s women team in next month’s World Cup.

Members of the team say they hope the reworked tune, Three Lionesses, will inspire the public to get behind the team at the tournament which takes place in France from 7 June to 7 July.

The original song, better known as Football’s Coming Home, has been chanted at England games since it was released for the men’s team campaign in 1996 European championship hosted in England.

It nostalgically celebrates England 1966 World cup win and rues near misses and underachievements in major tournaments since, enjoying a new lease of life during last summer’s World Cup in Russia when Gareth Southgate’s team reached the semi-finals.

The theme of the reworked tune swaps low expectations about the England men’s team with sexist attitudes about women’s football in general. The lines “That England’s going to throw it away, gonna blow it away” are replaced with “That we don’t have the skill in their eyes. Well we’re tired of the lies”.

And “All those ‘well done girls’” replaces “oh-so-nears” as the source of wearing down England supporters.

The new tune and accompanying video references past successes of the England team in the same way as the original song.

But the names, and footage involved, have been switched. Substitutions include Jade Moore for Bobby Moore; Nikita Parris for Gary Lineker; Steph Houghton for Bobby Charlton, and Jordan Nobbs for Nobby Stiles.

Nobbs, who has been ruled out of the tournament with a damaged knee, said: “I know the players love the Three Lionesses track and I hope it inspires the team to World Cup glory. This is an incredible time for women’s football as awareness and popularity continues to grow.” The song was commissioned by Lucozade Sport as part of its marketing activity around the tournament.

Not sure how to embed Vimeo videos, but you can watch it here.

[Colly]

Is the opening ceremony on TV at all? Can't find it anywhere and BBC coverage only starts half an hour before kickoff. Fucking One Show.

Ah. Red button. Standard bloody def.

[Lineker]

 

[Lineker]

I like Solo.

[MDK]

Early goal from France.

Just wish iPlayer had the blue button commentary. So much better than Pierce.

[GoGo Yubari]

Scotland ey

[Lineker]

15 minutes ago, GoGo Yubari said:

Scotland ey

lol, Scotland.

[FLiam]

lol, Scotland again.

[MDK]

I needed this cheering up

 

[Colly]

The second penalty in the Spain game was a horrific decision, and after VAR too. The defender cleared it and the Spanish player ran into her follow through. Ridiculous. 

[lanky316]

Very confused by how much they're going over the penalty in this game, I mean the Liverpool one last week had a little bit of a question mark but most people agreed with the decision but the Scottish handball looked fairly clear cut so to see how much they're harping on about it.