Mark Sampson has named a 23-player squad for England women’s friendly against Germany a week on Sunday, which will be their first match at Wembley and one that will be watched by an estimated 55,000 spectators at the national stadium.
Karen Carney, set to win her 100th England cap, is among eight players who featured in the Team GB side that beat Brazil at the 2012 Olympics in front of 70,584. But this will be the largest ever crowd for a home England women’s international, comfortably surpassing the 29,092 at the Etihad Stadium against Finland during Euro 2005. Sales for the game have been capped at 55,000 due to engineering works that may affect journeys to the stadium.
Germany, the European champions, represent a major challenge for Sampson’s side as they build towards next year’s World Cup in Canada but the England coach is confident his players will feed off the crowd. He said: “It’s a big challenge; with all the potential pitfalls that the crowd brings it also brings huge positives. We’re going to be focusing on them, we are a team that rely heavily on our emotions, making sure we’re in the right mind-set to perform to our maximum.
“I’m confident that when the players cross the white line they will engage with the supporters and that it will help them because they will need all the help they can get.
“We’ve got to go eye to eye with Germany and compete physically, then our quality can shine through. For that to happen we have to focus completely on our own level of performance and hopefully we can get a result. So far the team has developed from game to game and the level we are at the moment is really pleasing.”
BBC will broadcast the match live. In September the men’s team were watched by a crowd of 40,181 for the friendly victory over Norway, although the FA is expecting 80,000 to attend Saturday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia.
On Carney’s potential 100th cap, Sampson added: “Karen is a great person and incredible football talent, in my eyes one of the best in the world. It will be a great moment if she can take the field to win her 100th cap. The team are very proud to have Karen as a team-mate.”
Goalkeepers Bardsley, Chamberlain, Telford.
Defenders Bassett, Bronze, Greenwood, Houghton, Rafferty, A Scott, Stokes
Midfielders Carney, Moore, Nobbs, Potter, J Scott, Williams.
Forwards Aluko, Clarke, Duggan, Kirby, Sanderson, Smith, Taylor.
