Northern Ireland senior women’s team manager Kenny Shiels will be without Everton Women striker Simone Magill for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 qualifier against England Women on Saturday.
Shiels revealed today that Magill will not be available to play in the game at Wembley Stadium due to a family bereavement.
However, he is hopeful that the striker, who was absent for the qualifiers against Luxembourg and Latvia in September due to injury, will be available for next week’s World Cup qualifier against Austria Women in Belfast.
There is also a major injury concern over Rebecca Holloway. He said the Birmingham City Women defender has “only an extremely slim chance” of playing at Wembley this weekend. Magill and Holloway are the only players in the Northern Ireland squad who play in the FA’s Women’s Super League.
Also carrying a knock is Crusaders Strikers forward Emily Wilson, who came on as a second half substitute for her club in the Electric Ireland Women’s Challenge Cup Final on Friday.
Wilson had been receiving treatment on an injury prior to the final against Glentoran Women and it appears the injury may have been aggravated, however Shiels said there is “a possibility” the young striker may be available for the trip to London.
Apart from that Shiels has a clean bill of health in his squad ahead of the crunch European Qualifying Group D games.
The Northern Ireland boss further revealed he expects to bring in a couple of players as cover for those members of his squad who may miss the matches against England and Austria, the first and second seeds in the group respectively.
Tickets are still available for the match against England, who are currently ranked 8th in the world. The game at Wembley on Saturday has a 5.15pm start. Tickets are available here
And tickets are also now on sale for the qualifier against Austria at Seaview next Tuesday (26 October). That game kicks off at 7pm. Tickets are available here
