Arsenal forward Beth Mead hopes she did enough in her long-anticipated comeback to show Sarina Wiegman she is fit to play for England this month.
The Euro 2022 Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament winner, who ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) last November, was greeted with thunderous applause on her return in the 88th minute at the Emirates on Sunday, where two stoppage-time goals completed a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory against Aston Villa.
Mead looked sharp from the moment she stepped onto the pitch – observed by England boss Wiegman from the stands – and provided the assist to set up Alessia Russo’s winner, which came moments after Katie McCabe had cancelled out Maz Pacheco’s opener.
“I am ready to compete,” said Mead.
“If Sarina thinks so or not is a different story, but in my own head I am ready to compete. I’m a hopeful person. Hopefully I get a chance to speak to Sarina at some point in the next few days and we will go from there. Unfortunately I am not a mind reader, I don’t know where her brain is at the moment.”
Wiegman will name her squad for this month’s UEFA Nations League home and away legs with Belgium tomorrow at 4.15pm BST.
England will first host the Group A1 leaders at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on October 27 before travelling to Leuven for the Halloween return fixture.
The new tournament serves as UEFA’s Olympic qualifier and also has implications for teams’ Euro 2025 qualifying campaigns.
England, as the nominated home nation to qualify a Team GB for next summer’s Olympics in Paris, are hoping to secure one of two available berths, and would most likely need to reach the tournament final to do so.
Third place could be enough if France, automatically qualified as Olympic hosts, reach the final themselves.
The Lionesses need to top their League A group to advance but currently sit third after opening their tournament with a 2-1 victory over Scotland before losing away to the Netherlands.
Both Mead and fellow European champion Fran Kirby, who also missed the World Cup due to a knee issue and surgery, have now made their club comebacks and will be itching to crack Wiegman’s October squad.
For Mead, who also lost her mum June to ovarian cancer in January, Sunday’s return was an emotional one.
She added: “(It was) pretty amazing. It’s been a long, long time coming. There have been a lot of hard days, a lot of good days.
“I think, ultimately, you want to do your job, you want to do something you love – and that had been taken away for such a long time. So to be able to get out there, with that type of reception from the fans, was pretty incredible.”