Sarina Wiegman says the decision to leave Jess Carter out England’s starting XI for the side’s Women’s Euro 2025 semi-final with Italy was purely ‘tactical’.
Just days after the Lionesses’ quarter-final victory over Sweden, Carter revealed that she had received racist abuse throughout the campaign and would be ‘taking a step back’ from social media.
The rest of Wiegman’s England squad have rallied around the Gotham FC star in the intervening days, while FIFA boss Gianni Infantino came out condemning the vile online messages.
Carter’s omission is the only change to the side that overcame Sweden on penalties last Thursday, with the centre-back instead named on the substitutes bench in Geneva this evening.
The 27-year-old, who started all four of England’s previous matches, has been replaced by Washington Spirit’s Esme Morgan, who starts alongside captain Leah Williamson at the back.
There had been some uncertainty over Williamson’s involvement after the England skipper left the Sweden match in a protective boot following an ankle knock – but Wiegman’s side go into the match with a fully fit squad.
Asked whether the decision to name Carter on the bench was a ‘tactical’ one, Wiegman told ITV Sport: ‘Yes, that decision is based on the tactical challenges that we have.
‘We think in this game that it is best to put Esme in.’
England’s starting XI to face Italy
England XI: Hampton, Bronze, Williamson, Morgan, Greenwood, Walsh, Stanway, Toone, James, Russo, Hemp
Substitutes: Keating, Moorhouse, Charles, Mead, Le Tissier, Clinton, Carter, Agyemang, Kelly, Beever-Jones, Park, Wubben-Moy
Wiegman insisted Carter was ready to make an impact off the bench should the opportunity present itself at the Geneva Stadium
‘Jess is good,’ she added.
‘Of course, a lot of things going on, but she trained well and she’s ready to compete and ready to play.’
Carter’s replacement in the side, Morgan, is more than ready to step up and do a job alongside Williamson, according to Wiegman.
‘It’s a huge night for Esme and it’s a huge night for everyone. She’s ready, she has been ready for a while,’ the England manager continued.
‘She had to wait for that and she showed that other night and I hope she does really well, of course.’
Wiegman went on: ‘We’re going to do our very best to play at our best and let’s see what it brings us.
‘We want to take our game to the next level all the time and then we have different challenges.
‘Italy will challenge us again, they have played in different shapes, they are tactical and they adapt to what the opponent does so that’s a challenge in itself tonight.
‘I hope we have the ball a lot and we can be on the ball a lot, but we’ll see.
Following Carter’s sickening revelation, Wiegman revealed that her squad would no longer be taking the knee before matches as the gesture was not having a ‘good enough’ impact.
‘Taking the knee, that’s not enough. We have done that for a while. The impact is not good enough, it’s not as big as we think,’ she told BBC Sport on Monday.
‘When there is this form of racism we felt we have to do something else, something different, so that’s why we are not taking the knee.”
The Lionesses will instead be standing at kick-off rather than kneeling.
‘We feel like it has gone past that [taking the knee] now,’ England midfielder Georgia Stanway explained.
‘We feel it is still happening even when we are taking the knee. We have decided that we will stand and we will not do that.
‘We think that is a way of making change in itself because we want to get people talking – we want to tell people that what is being done isn’t enough.’
