Millie Bright during the Women’s Euro 2022. Photo by James Whitehea (All Rights Reserved – Sporting Her).
Set to earn her 67th cap in England’s Women’s World Cup opener, defender Millie Bright, is expected to lead the Lionesses out on the 22nd of July against Haiti. After Bright became a figurehead of the 2022 Euros, the pressure is on for England, and this summer could finish with Bright becoming the only England captain other than Sir Bobby Moore to lift the World Cup.
During England’s historical Euros last summer, Millie was named vice-captain under Leah Williamson. However, Williamson was ruled out of this major tournament after a dreaded ACL injury whilst playing for Arsenal, meaning that Millie Bright has been named England Captain. With injuries being a hot topic going into this Women’s World Cup, Bright has not been able to avoid it herself. The defender has not played a competitive game since March after suffering a knee injury during the Champions league with Chelsea. Despite this, Bright is expected to be fit for the match against Haiti and has said that she feels physically and mentally fresher than she’s ever felt.
One of the more experienced members of Sarina Wiegman’s squad, Bright made her senior debut for England in 2016 and in terms of major tournaments, has previously been to the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France alongside the Olympics (representing Great Britain) in 2021. She is an integral part of the squad, not only with her high-quality defending, reliability and fearlessness at the back, but her ability to score an occasional but incredible goal. We saw this during the 2022 Arnold Clark Cup when Bright was named joint top goalscorer alongside Alexia Putellas.
A serial winner of domestic cups at Chelsea, the England captain will be going into this tournament with the same winning mentality. Bright will have a small advantage when playing against teams like Australia and Sweden, having played with Australian captain Sam Kerr and Swedish player Magdalena Eriksson back at Chelsea (although that advantage does work both ways!) Emma Hayes – Chelsea Manager – has frequently praised the talents of Millie Bright and many of her England teammates have also commented on what a natural leader she is.
So, it’s fair to say that the future of this tournament looks bright for England.
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