Alan Campbell on women’s football
Scotland save best for last
LAST week was a story of two Scotland football matches – one which took place and the other which didn’t.
We’ll start with the game which was played, the senior side’s uplifting 2-1 European Championship qualifying win over Iceland in Reykjavik on Tuesday. It attracted a crowd of about 6,500 at the 10,000-capacity Laugardalsvollur.
While an uncharacteristically subdued Icelandic performance for the opening hour was a factor in the victory, it was also Scotland’s best display – by a distance – in the Group 1 campaign.
The players looked much more comfortable returning to a 4-4-2 (switching from a 4-4-1-1) formation for their final group match. It afforded far more protection in the wide areas, while up front Jane Ross and Lisa Evans were involved much more than they usually are against the better nations.
Every Scotland player performed near their optimum, so much so that the injured Kim Little, Rachel Corsie and Ifeoma Dieke were barely missed.
It’s almost invidious to pick players out but, with an eye on the future, it was good to see Caroline Weir, pictured, come in and do so well in central midfield, while Hibernian right- back Kirsty Smith had easily her most assured game for Scotland.
Sadly, the squad had barely waved goodbye to Iceland the following morning before a darker story began to circulate. It emanated from Serbia and included serious allegations about the match which didn’t take place.
That was the Scotland women’s under-19 side’s scheduled game against Serbia in Albania on Monday. Having only days earlier hammered the hosts 11-0 and Cyprus 8-0 in Euro qualifying, the young Scots were favourites to win Group 4. But the match was called off, with 17 members of the travelling party, including nine players, laid low by acute gastroenteritis.
The squad limped home on Tuesday. Uefa will come to a decision this week on Serbia’s claim that they should be awarded a 3-0 win by default. Rather than receiving sympathy, the Scotland party has had to cope with the story which emerged on Wednesday that the real reason for the game not being played was that the players had been drinking heavily.
Anybody who has spent even five minutes in and around Scotland women’s squads knows alcohol is not permitted. The players are encouraged to eat and drink like elite athletes, and they embrace that ethos enthusiastically. No group could be less associated with Scottish football’s traditional drinking culture. The players and their parents – one of whom said to me that the squad now has to live with the “lies and innuendo” – most certainly did not deserve this.