OF CORS WE CAN BEAT ENGLAND, SAYS SCOTS STAR RACHEL
ENGLAND v SCOTLAND Rachel set for Euro opener after beating her injury hell
RACHEL CORSIE has spent the last four weeks Sleepless in Seattle and has vowed not to be caught napping in the Euro opener against England.
The Scotland central defender has won her fight for fitness after battling back from two serious knee injuries that would have sickened lesser spirits.
Insult was added to injury four years ago when she tore the ACL on her left knee and was carried off in the Euro Championship play-off decider against Spain.
The former Aberdeen Ladies starlet, who now plays with Seattle Reign, was cautioned for a foul on Veronica Boquete – and the Spaniard went on to score a late extra-time winner that saw her side progress to the finals.
Corsie, 27, injured the same left knee playing for the Reign last July, underwent an op in August and only returned to action in the National Women’s Soccer League in April.
But she suffered another knee knock in a Euro warm-up in Sweden on June 13 and didn’t appear for the second half of the 1-0 defeat for Anna Signeul’s side.
Corsie has been undergoing intensive rehab ever since but has handed the Scots a boost by declaring herself fit for the Group D opener against the Auld Enemy in Utrecht tonight.
The Tartan Army have been trickling into town over the last 24 hours, with up to 500 expected in the Galgenwaard Stadion to watch the women compete at their first major tournament, 19 years after the men last played at elite level at France 98.
Corsie said: “It has been a thorough process over the last four weeks to make sure I would be ready for the England game and I’m feeling good about it.
“I injured the same knee against Sweden and it wasn’t worth pushing through until the end of the match.
“Truthfully, it has been a really difficult year with one thing after another but there have also been positives.
“The start of the year was a turning point off the back of my knee surgery. Since then there have just been one or two niggles that come with old age but I’m feeling really good for the England game.”
Corsie made her international debut in a 2-0 defeat against France at the Cyprus Cup in March 2009, just five months after Scotland missed out on the Euro finals in equally agonising circumstances as the defeat by the Spanish.
Back then only away goals denied them a place at Euro 2009 as their 2-1 victory in Russia wasn’t enough to overcome a 3-2 first-leg defeat at Tynecastle.
This time the Scots qualified comfortably for the finals, finishing one of the six best runners-up in qualification.
They ended their campaign on a high last September with a 2-1 victory against group winners Iceland, four days after Finland’s defeat to Portugal had confirmed the attendance of Signeul’s squad in Holland.
Corsie said: “A lot of our players have been together through the hard times and this tournament has the potential to be the experience of a lifetime.
“We finished the qualifying group so strongly this time but I wasn’t with the squad when we made it.
“However, the girls contacted me in Seattle via Facetime. It has been so positive, everybody has worked so hard.” SCOTLAND’S women will hope to give England the bum’s rush after the Auld Enemy admitted they’ve been watching Braveheart to learn what makes the Scots tick.
Scotland skipper Gemma Fay said: “I don’t know what they made of Mel Gibson’s Scottish accent but we don’t need a history lesson on any aspect of English culture.”