International round-up: February

Aston Villa Women are back in action on Wednesday when they host Everton at the Banks’s Stadium.

Carla Ward and co. will be chomping at the bit to return to play after a pair of significant wins over Leicester City and West Ham United since the turn of the year.

Ward welcomes back 12 internationals from the most recent set of national fixtures in preparation for the visit of the Toffees.

You can see how our international Villans got on below:

England

England Women's senior head coach Sarina Wiegman named a 24-player squad to face Canada, Spain and Germany in the newly formed Arnold Clark Cup.

Hannah Hampton and Jill Scott were both selected and reported for Lionesses duty following our superb WSL victory over Everton.

The inaugural Arnold Clark Cup on home soil featured Canada, Spain and Germany and will provided Hampton, Scott and co. valuable preparation ahead of this summer's European Championships.

England will began their Cup campaign against Canada at the Riverside Stadium, a game which ended 1-1.

Millie Bright’s acrobatic opener was cancelled out by Janine Beckie’s curling effort at the Riverside.

Hampton and Scott would both be unused substitutes but would be given starting berths next time out against Spain.

It would be a significant moment for Hannah, in particular, as she was awarded a senior international debut having been on the cusp during the last several camps.

Our no.1 didn’t disappoint as she kept a clean sheet at Carrow Road and was awarded Player of the Match.

Scott completed 62 minutes against the Spaniards as she prepared for a return to WSL action.

A final fixture against Germany took place at Molinuex to round off the competition, with England running out 3-1 winners and thus securing the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup.

Mo Marley named 24 players in her Under-23s squad ahead of a double-header against France, with Maz Pacheco and Anna Patten both being selected.

Maz completed 45 minutes during the first game against the French, a 1-1 draw.

Meanwhile, Anna played the full 90 minutes of the second meeting in which France ran out 3-2 victors.

Gemma Davies also named a development squad for the upcoming Marbella International Tournament.

The squad, which featured Olivia McLoughlin, Laura Blindkilde Brown and Freya Gregory, took on Finland on at the Estadio Municipa Ciudad de La Linea, before facing Denmark at the Marbella Football Center.

The camp would be a hugely successful one for Gregory, who netted twice in the 4-0 win over Finland before grabbing an assist during the 2-1 success against Denmark.

Olivia and Laura also featured heavily in the development squad’s two games.

Switzerland

Alisha Lehmann was named in Nils Nielsen's 28-player squad for Switzerland's February fixtures against Northern Ireland and Austria.

Our number seven will have been hoping to add to her fine club form against her opponents in Marbella, and she did just that when she netted in the 2-2 draw against Northern Ireland.

Alisha would then go on to complete a further 45 minutes against Austria as she looks ahead to the remainder of the WSL campaign.

Scotland

Pedro Martinez Losa named Chloë Arthur and Rachel Corsie in a 26-player squad for this year’s Pinatar Cup.

The action and training camp provided Scotland with some valuable preparation for April’s World Cup qualification double-header against Ukraine and Spain.

Scotland won the first edition of the Pinatar Cup in 2020, but will be disappointed with the way in which they started this year’s edition.

Wales got the better of them as they won 3-1, with Arthur coming off the bench for the second 45 minutes.

Scotland got back on track with a 2-0 win over Slovakia, with Chloë once again completing a full half of football.

Winning the cup was no longer a possibility following the opening two fixtures, but Scotland did secure fifth place with a shootout victory over Hungary.

Corsie returned from illness to complete 90 minutes, while Arthur played the final 25 minutes to keep herself ticking over.

Republic of Ireland

Vera Pauw included Ruesha Littlejohn in her 27-player squad for their first appearance in the Pinatar Cup.

Ireland, like Scotland, were guaranteed three matches in Spain.

First up, they came up against Poland. Ireland emerged 2-1 winners with Littlejohn playing the full 90 minutes.

Ruesha and co. were narrowly beaten by Russia next time out, with our no.31 playing the second 45 minutes.

And with third place up for grabs, Ireland defeated Wales 1-0 with Ruesha playing a further 90 minutes for her country.

Well done to all of our international Villans!