• Laura Coombs could deputise for the injured Keira Walsh against China PR 

• At 32 she is the Lionesses' oldest player at these finals 

• Midfielder is one of the squad’s least-capped players with six 

At the start of 2023, Laura Coombs had all but given up on her international career. More than seven years had passed since her last Lionesses cap under then coach Mark Sampson, dating back to a time when What Do You Mean by Justin Beiber was topping the singles charts, and Star Wars was yet to make its long-awaited return to the silver screen. 

She received a call-up by Phil Neville for a 2020 training camp, but failed to earn an elusive third cap. Everything, to Coombs’ surprise, changed in February of this year, though, as Sarina Weigman called the Manchester City anchor up for the Arnold Clark Cup.

“Before February, I hadn’t really thought about an international call-up for a number of years, to be quite honest,” Coombs told FIFA. “Not that I didn’t want it to happen, but I just thought maybe that time had been and gone. 

“Although I was playing every week for City, I didn’t really expect it and I was just so happy when it did come.” 

Coombs initially declined Wiegman’s phone call, not realising the unknown number ringing her was from the boss of the European champions. The same number rang again when she was in an ice bath with city No9 Khadija Shaw. Bunny already knew she was headed to the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in a few months. Coombs most-certainly didn’t.

The midfielder travelled with the squad to the tournament in February and played twice – including a first international start against Italy – as England retained the trophy. She was on the bench for the Finalissima win over Brazil in April and the friendly defeat to Australia, before earning her fifth cap in the 0-0 draw with Portugal in the build-up to Australia & New Zealand 2023 – by which time her spot on the plane was already secured. 

“I think you always need some timing and luck in your career,” the 32-year-old said as she reflected on her journey back into the set-up. “I think that did come together [with] more game time, scoring some goals and I just felt like I was in a good place. 

“I was obviously over the moon to come here, and I thought that it [the call-up] was a good showing of my season.” 

She remained on the bench as England opened their campaign Down Under with a tight 1-0 win over Haiti. Her moment wasn’t far away, though, as starting midfielder Keira Walsh succumbed to injury 38 minutes into the clash with Denmark. Coombs’ time had come, although she wished it didn’t have to be at her team-mate’s expense.

“I would have loved for it to be in better circumstances, everyone is so happy that it’s nothing too serious,” she said after it was confirmed that Walsh did not suffer ACL damage, although it remains to be seen if she will play again at the tournament. 

“I was really proud to be out there and to be called upon was great. When [the coaching staff] shouted me, I thought ‘Oh wow. There’s a lot I need to remember over the next couple of minutes!’ I was just trying to soak it all in. It was amazing to get out there.” 

Will tournament lightning strike twice for Coombs, though? She began her Arnold Clark campaign as a substitute, before being thrust into a starting berth against Italy where she played the full 90 minutes of a 2-1 win. A pivotal World Cup group-stage decider against China PR, which could have huge implications for both sides, is a different kettle of fish. But after almost eight years of waiting for a start at a major tournament, Coombs is raring to step up to the plate. 

“We’ll see what happens when the game comes around, and if needed, I’m definitely ready,” she said.

You can read more from our interview with Coombs below… 

Coombs: Everyone’s feeling really together. We had to play a little bit more defensively than we’re used to playing and grinding out a result. Keeping a clean sheet I think was massive for us and getting the win, of course. 

We’ll know they’ll be a possession-based team. A lot of Asian teams are always really tidy on the ball [with] technical players. So we’re just expecting a very tidy game from them. They look quite direct sometimes in their play, but from what we’ve seen they look like a very technical, so it’ll be a really good test.

I think I’m someone who will always be there for other people, I like being that person for other people. I think a lot of people know they can come and speak to me if they need advice or need someone to speak to. I’ve loved doing that for my team-mates, on whichever team I’ve been on. Naturally I’ve just kind of gone into that role. I think that’s just me as a person, I like people! I like seeing people happy. 

I think it’s just a matter of time. Teams do generally start slower at big tournaments and there’s nothing I see differently in training now from when I came in for the Arnold Clark Cup and goals were going in for fun. It’s the same players – it just might take one and then hopefully the floodgates will open.

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