The Women’s World Cup kicks off in just five days time and there are five Manchester United players competing on international duty down under.
Vilde Boe Risa, who recently celebrated her 28th Birthday, has been selected for Norway who take on New Zealand in the opening game of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Jayde Riviere, will represent Canada, who drew with England in a behind closed doors friendly on Friday.
The England Lionesses play their first game a week today when they take on Haiti in the group stages.
Three Reds have been picked for the team who won the Euros last year, and are one of the favourites heading into the competition despite their injury woes.
Goalkeeper Mary Earps, who was voted FIFA Best Goalkeeper last year, will be a mainstay of Sarina Wiegman’s squad once again.
As well as being her first choice keeper, Wiegman has selected Earps as the squad’s vice captain behind Millie Bright and with the Chelsea defender still recovering from injury, it looks likely that Earps could lead the team out in their opening game.
One player that knows all about leadership responsibilities is United skipper Katie Zelem, who joins the Lionesses for her first major international tournament.
Earlier in the week it was announced that Zelem has joined the PFA Players’ Board. The board is made up of players from the Premier League, EFL and WSL and is committed to ensuring that their voices are heard by the union’s leadership team.
Also in the side is Ella Toone who impressed in the Euros last year.
Toone has been speaking to The Independent about how the team are gelling together in Australia.
Aside from training, the team have been whale-watching together and made friends with kangaroos!
The team could be away from home for the best part of two months should they progress to the latter stages of the competition.
“We’re just normal people, aren’t we? And it’s hard to be away from home, and it’s sometimes hard to be on camp for such a long period of time, but that’s why we’ve got to make a home-away-from-home and I think that’s what we’ve done really well,” Toone said.
“It’s nice to have a bit of time off and spend time together as well, and get to see beautiful Australia as well, it definitely helps us feel like we’re not robots.”
All five players will be hoping to have slightly heavier suitcases as they return to Manchester with a trophy and a medal.