England’s Women’s World Cup squad: Beth Mead out but Beth England in

Sarina Wiegman has omitted Beth Mead from England’s squad for the Women’s World Cup but has included the striker Beth England, who has scored 12 times in 12 WSL appearances for Tottenham this season.

Wiegman named her 23-player squad on Wednesday and has picked the defender Millie Bright, who has not played for Chelsea since coming off injured on 22 March. There is no place for Steph Houghton despite the absence of the captain, Leah Williamson, and, more surprisingly, Maya Le Tissier has been left out. Le Tissier’s Manchester United teammate Nikita Parris has also not made the cut but their club-mate Katie Zelem is in.

Wiegman said Bright would captain the team. The manager said the centre-back was “still building” fitness but sounded optimistic. “We need to build a little more but it looks good.” She indicated Mary Earps was next in line for the captaincy.

Mead sustained an ACL injury in November and her chances of inclusion were slim given that she has not played since. The forward collected the golden boot and player of the tournament award when England won Euros last summer. Wiegman said she had ruled out Mead a long time back. “She’s so positive and going well but with the timescale she had we would have taken so many risks to get to the World Cup and she had a personal situation too,” she said. “I’m not willing to take that risk to push her too much and she gets injured again.”

England’s call-up is her first since September, when she scored in the 10-0 defeat of Luxembourg. The forward signed for Spurs from Chelsea in January in search of first-team football to improve her World Cup chances and was vital to the team avoiding relegation. Wiegman praised England’s form and “resilience”.

Jordan Nobbs has made the cut in midfield, despite picking up an injury in Aston Villa’s penultimate game. She missed the 2017 Euros and 2019 World Cup through injury. Le Tissier, the forward Jess Park and the goalkeeper Emily Ramsey are on standby. Wiegman said it was a “hard call” not to select Le Tissier, but that she regarded the 21-year-old more as a right-back than a centre-half, where she has been used by United.

On the diversity of the squad, with 21 of the players white, Wiegman said: “I understand that people look at it like that and I really hope that will change, but that won’t change overnight.” She pointed to work being done by the Football Association and to greater access to football for girls in school. “In the future we have more players from different backgrounds in the national team.”

The World Cup is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand and kicks off on 20 July, with England’s first game, against the debutants Haiti, coming two days later in Brisbane. England then play Denmark in Sydney and China in Adelaide.

Optimism regarding England’s chances of winning the tournament has been punctured by injuries to Mead, Williamson and the forward Fran Kirby. Two other members of England’s Euro 2022 squad, the record goalscorer Ellen White and midfielder Jill Scott, retired after the final.

Sixteen of the World Cup squad were also at Euro 2022, but Niamh Charles, Laura Coombs, Lauren James, Esme Morgan, Katie Robinson and Zelem will be at their first major tournament.

Wiegman said she had “huge belief” in the squad and emphasised the need for the players to rest in the coming weeks before preparations begin. “We learned a lot of positive lessons about how to get the players fit, fresh and ready from the Euro last summer and we know what we have to do to make sure we hit the ground running in the right way when the tournament starts,” she said.