ZURICH -- Leah Williamson revealed she has had anxiety about making this summer's Euro 2025 tournament after she missed the last World Cup through injury.
Williamson captained England to the Euro 2022 triumph, but missed out on the World Cup after sustaining an ACL injury three months before the tournament. In her absence, England reached the World Cup final where they lost 1-0 to Spain.
Since making her comeback from injury in January 2024, Williamson has had her sights set on making this summer's tournament. She will captain England in their opener against France on Saturday in Zurich.
"I've probably held some anxiety up until this moment just because I wanted to be here and I wanted to be with the team and experience another tournament for England," Williamson said.
"Being away from home -- it's special when you come to another country to represent your country. So I'm just to take everything in. It's a bit different to England in 2022.
"I am very excited but also so much has changed, so I am intrigued to come back and enjoy tournament football [again]."
Williamson said such has been the accelerated change in the women's game since she played in Euro 2022, England cannot see their triumph three years ago as giving them any extra clout in Switzerland.
"It's new territory," Williamson said. "[Sarina Wiegman] explained it very well -- we're not looking at is as a defence, but a new challenge, an opportunity to do something new."
With Millie Bright having stepped away from the tournament to prioritise her physical and mental wellbeing, Williamson is likely to line up in central defence alongside either Alex Greenwood or Esme Morgan on Saturday night. Given Williamson linked up with Greenwood in their win over Jamaica last Sunday, that's likely to be the favoured partnership and if Greenwood does feature against France, it will be her 100th cap for England.
"Alex is an exceptional ball player," Williamson said. "She sees things that not many do. She is always at such a high performance. When you play next to someone like Alex she is demands so much of herself and naturally of you too.
"She is one of my best mates so I have a good time playing [with her] but she is also one of those players that you don't want to let down because her level is so consistently high."
Another player who will hope to feature on Saturday is Chelsea forward Lauren James. She played just over 30 minutes against Jamaica on Sunday in her comeback having sustained a hamstring injury against Belgium back in April.
"She is in a good place," Wiegman said of James. "As you noticed, she came on the pitch against Jamaica last week and she is ready to get more minutes tomorrow."
When asked how many minutes she could manage, Wiegman answered: "We are not going to give you the line-up. She played 30 minutes last week and she can play more than that."