02 October 2019

Injuries force defenders Stokes and Bright out of England friendly against Brazil

Injury has forced England defenders Demi Stokes and Millie Bright to withdraw from the squad ahead of the friendly against Brazil on Saturday.

Manchester City left-back Stokes and Chelsea centre-back Bright have been replaced by Birmingham City's Lucy Staniforth and Man City's Gemma Bonner for the game which has already seen 30,000 tickets sold at Middlesborough's Riverside Stadium.

Phil Neville's team have been brought down to earth with a bit of a bump since the highs of the World Cup this summer, having drawn with Belgium and lost to Norway in friendlies.

The game against Portugal will be the first meeting between the two since England won 2-1 in the Euro 2017 group stages in the Netherlands.

Returning from injury, however, is Arsenal midfielder Jordan Nobbs, who missed out on the World Cup after a serious knee injury in November. She has since made her return to the Women's Super League and will be a serious boost to to the England set-up.

It is unconfirmed as to whether Bright and Stokes will be fit again to play England's final home game of the year against Germany at Wembley on November 9, a game that has already sold more than 75,000 tickets.

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