A lot has been made of the absences from the United States women’s national team as they travel to London this week to take on England at Wembley. But the Lionesses have their fair share of big names missing too, with Sarina Wiegman left to ponder what her best attacking line-up looks like without Lauren James, Lauren Hemp and Ella Toone. Such injuries are primed to present opportunities to others for this big game, with Chloe Kelly one of those in the running for a start.
Aggie Beever-Jones and Jessica Naz are also options for England out wide, with Beth Mead expected to line-up on the opposite flank, but Beever-Jones has only made one appearance for the senior team and Naz has been primarily used by Wiegman as a centre-forward. It could all put Kelly in line for what would be just her fifth start of the 2024-25 season, for club and country.
It’d be a welcome opportunity for the player who scored that iconic winning goal at Wembley two years ago, as the Lionesses finally won a first major tournament by defeating Germany in the Euro 2022 final. If Kelly wants to be involved as England go about defending that crown in Switzerland next summer, she needs to take every chance that comes her way between now and then, starting with this international break.