Millie Bright: England captain 'ready to play' World Cup opener

Millie Bright was injured in Chelsea's Champions League semi-final defeat by Barcelona in March

England captain Millie Bright is "absolutely ready to play" against Haiti in their Women's World Cup opener, manager Sarina Wiegman says.

Bright has not played competitive football since March following knee surgery but is available on Saturday.

England are in Group D alongside Haiti, Denmark and China for the tournament, staged in Australia and New Zealand.

"We are happy. This was the plan. The plan worked, so Millie is ready to play," said Wiegman.

Bright added: "When you're surrounded by the best people, I was very confident in my recovery and I've been given everything I needed to be in this position.

"I'm very grateful I'm able to play and I'm just super excited to be here."

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'Not a situation everyone wants to be in'

On Thursday, Bright announced she will wear armbands supporting inclusion, indigenous people and gender equality in the group stage of the tournament.

Players can choose from eight Fifa-sanctioned armbands, but not the OneLove design that led to Fifa threatening sanctions at the 2022 men's World Cup.

"Everything that we made a decision on, we did as a team. For us, the decision with the armbands took a while and we thought long and hard," said Bright.

"As a collective, we stuck with what Fifa proposed. We will be wearing the different armbands. We thought it was important to shed a light on all the causes that we feel strongly about as a team."

The build-up to England's opening game has been dominated by issues off the pitch, including the absence of the OneLove armband and player frustration relating to negotiations with the Football Association on performance-related bonuses.

Bright released a statement on behalf of the players this week stating they were "disappointed that a resolution has still not been achieved" with the FA and they would pause discussions until after the World Cup.

"It's not a situation everyone wants to be in but as players we're not just programmed to play football so sometimes we have to have these conversations," said Bright.

"But we are a very professional group and football is always at the forefront of everything. Our heads are on the game and they always have been.

"Everything is on hold with those questions and we'll address this situation at a later date but for now it's all about the tournament."

'Players' platform has become bigger'

Millie Bright (left) will captain England at the World Cup in the absence of injured centre-back partner Leah Williamson

Wiegman said the players have always "felt comfortable" to use their platform to raise issues and have discussions but that "platform has become bigger".

"There has been some conversations but the only focus now is on football and I think that's what the team will do," she added.

"You call it noise - there has been conversations. I haven't noticed anything [in terms of distractions]. When we go on the pitch, we are on the pitch and everyone is aligned and everyone is focused on football.

"I haven't seen any other behaviours. So yes, we are ready. We have said all the time we want to be ready on 22 July, and I think we are."

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