Earps proud to receive 50th England cap

The Euro 2022 winner brought up the half-century milestone in Friday’s 2-1 defeat to France, a qualifier for next summer’s European Championship. 

Earps started the game but was forced off with a hip injury in the eighth minute at St James’ Park in Newcastle, and later had to withdraw from the Lionesses’ squad.

Taking to Instagram over the weekend, Mary reflected on an evening of mixed emotions, saying: “Not the way the big 5-OH was meant to go, but grateful and hugely proud to have reached 50 caps for England. Thank you for your lovely messages.

“Gutted that I’ve picked up a minor hip injury which will sideline me for a couple of weeks. Not something I’m used to but nothing a little bit of R&R [rest and recovery] won’t fix. Right behind the girls for Tuesday!”

Sarina Wiegman’s side reconvene with France in the Group A3 reverse fixture on Tuesday, at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne, and will be hoping to avenge last week’s narrow loss on home soil.

Earps’s United team-mate Ella Toone played the entirety of the first meeting, while fellow Reds Grace Clinton, Maya Le Tissier and Millie Turner were unused substitutes. 

Our international players have also been in Euro 2025 qualifying action elsewhere across the continent in the last few days.

On Friday, Lisa Naalsund played just over an hour of Norway’s goalless draw with Italy, while Lucia Garcia was a second-half substitute in Spain’s 2-0 win away to Denmark.

Gemma Evans and Hayley Ladd both played 90 minutes as Wales drew 1-1 at home to Ukraine, with young Reds Safia Middleton-Patel, Mayzee Davies and Olivia Francis not called upon from the bench.

Meanwhile, Aoife Mannion came on in the 73rd minute of the Republic of Ireland’s 3-0 loss to Sweden.

Earlier in the day, at the neutral venue of the Estadio Nueva Condomina in Spain, Hinata Miyazawa completed just over an hour of Japan’s 2-0 friendly triumph over New Zealand.

That was before Jayde Riviere helped Canada defeat Mexico by the same scoreline in Montreal on Saturday, featuring for 57 minutes of a friendly in which former Red Adriana Leon opened the scoring.

COMING UP FOR OUR INTERNATIONAL REDS

Hinata and Japan go head-to-head with New Zealand again, at the same venue in Spain, at 15:00 BST this afternoon.

On Tuesday, as many as 12 Reds could be in action as England, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Spain and Wales continue their Euro 2025 qualifying campaigns with the reverse fixtures of their aforementioned group matches.

While on Wednesday, in the early hours of the morning (UK time), Riviere and Canada will look to record back-to-back friendly victories over Mexico (00:30 BST kick-off).