Dieke set for 100th cap for Scotland’s walking wounded

Women’s World Cup play-off second leg Sparta Stadium, Rotterdam, today, 6pm GMT

Live on BBC Alba THERE will be a patched-up element to Scotland when they play the Netherlands in Rotterdam’s Sparta Stadion tonight, but Anna Signeul and her players remain confident that they can keep alive their hopes of qualifying for next summer’s World Cup in Canada.

Rachel Corsie will play with a broken nose for the second time in five days, while central defender Ifeoma Dieke is also expected to retain her place in the line-up despite not having trained all week because of a head cold. If she does, it will be her 100th cap – a milestone she often felt she would never achieve.

“When I got my first cap in Ukraine back in 2004 I never expected to reach 100,” the 33-yearold admitted. “That was again the case when I badly injured my knee in the London Olympics two years ago and I’ve cherished every game I’ve played for Scotland.”

Dieke was also feeling under the weather going into the first leg of the play-off semi-final, but was one of Scotland’s better players on a night when, in the first half especially, many failed to do themselves justice. In mitigation, the Scots were also hit by ill fortune – Corsie was off the field for six of the first 12 minutes of the match receiving treatment to prevent the blood flowing from her nose and this coincided with Holland scoring their opening goal. Shortly after the second, when Frankie Brown conceded a penalty to allow the game’s best player, Manon Melis, to score from the spot, there was further disruption to Scotland’s plans.

With barely a quarter of the game played, left-back Hayley Lauder went off injured and was replaced by Emma Mitchell.

Brown and Mitchell will have to contain Melis and the other goalscorer, Lieke Martens, tonight, while at the other end Signeul is determined to put more pressure on the Dutch back four. They looked vulnerable at set pieces, but need to be tested in open play as well, which means Lisa Evans is likely to see more of the ball – and more directly than it was provided on Saturday.

Tonight’s game is on a hightech artificial surface at Sparta Rotterdam’s ground, and Signeul said she was impressed by its quality. “The pitch is great,” she said, “and isn’t fast as you might expect.”

The coach believes that her side’s poor opening 45 minutes at Tynecastle was triggered by the early absence of Corsie, forcing an intended high-pressing game to become a rearguard action. “To get such an awful start in such an important game was not good,” she pointed out.

“We need to go into this game without fear, win the first ball, win the second ball, and be much more physical as a unit. In a way the pressure is off us because most people will expect Holland to win the tie now.”

The winners will play Italy, who beat Ukraine 4-3 on aggregate yesterday, for the last Uefa place in Canada.