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England Women manager Sarina Wiegman has revealed that she was planning on calling up Millie Bright for their World Cup qualifying campaign. However, the defender announced her retirement from international football this week.

Bright made her Lionesses debut in 2016 and went on to earn 88 international caps. She started every match in the successful Euro 2022 tournament and was captain at the World Cup a year later, with England losing to Spain in the final of that competition.

The defender was not part of this summer's Lionesses squad, as they successfully defended the Euros title, due to her ruling herself out of selection in the build-up to the tournament. Over the summer, she has had successful knee surgery and started counselling sessions.

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Wiegman named her England squad for the upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Australia this week, but didn't have Bright to call on. The Lionesses boss admits that she would have loved to have had the option to give Bright her first England cap since April.

"Of course, I wanted that," she said in a press conference. "She's still a very good player, so I want her in the squad, but I totally respect and understand the decision she's made.

"She had been thinking about it very thoroughly and, when a player makes a decision like this when you've had such an incredible career internationally, then it's not appropriate to have that conversation [to convince her to stay]. I just respect it and it must've been really hard to make this decision."

Wiegman went on: "At the back of the Euros, we had a conversation. The competition [WSL] had started already and Millie told me she was going to retire from international football.

"It wasn't immediately after the final. You have to take some time with these things and it's a very hard decision.

"We had a very good conversation. She's been huge for us, for me, for the team on and off the pitch. Even before I came in, she's been a great personality and a leader, too.

"I'm really grateful that I've been a little part of her journey and I'm grateful she has been part of my team because she's had a massive influence."

In announcing her shock retirement from international football, Bright told The Rest is Football: Daly Brightness' podcast: "I'm incredibly proud and honoured to have played for England for so long.

"Every single cap has been special and the memories I've made - especially with this one sat opposite me - have been some of the best of my life," Bright said on the podcast, which she co-hosts with her friend and ex-England team-mate Rachel Daly.

"But yeah, it's time. It's the right time for me to call it a day with England."

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