HERAKLION, Greece -- England will be without Lucy Bronze for their World Cup playoff matches against Greece with the Lionesses calling up Ella Toone to take her place.
Bronze has returned to Chelsea to manage what the FA calls a "minor injury" sustained in their WSL win at West Ham on Sunday. The news means England will have to juggle their right-back options for their double-header against Greece with the first leg in Heraklion, Crete, on Friday and the return leg back in Leicester on Tuesday.
With Bronze sidelined, Sarina Wiegman has turned to Manchester United attacking midfielder Toone to fill her place. Toone was one of the high-profile absentees from Wiegman's original squad with Chloe Kelly and Aggie Beever-Jones, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Taylor Hinds also missing out.
When talking about the decision to leave out Toone and Kelly back on Sept. 29, Wiegman said: "The main reason is I think the levels weren't what I expected from them on the pitch. I've had conversation with them and there's a big competition going on too. It's been a very hard decision for both of them.
"I really believe in them. They're not in the squad, but I believe in them. We follow them and we expect a bit more. We know they can bring more. That was the message again too. There's also competition going on.
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"I hope they can step up and show what they can do because I'm convinced that they can do better. I think they are convinced about that too. I think they took the feedback in a positive way, but it's hard to [hear] at the same time, of course."