Coach Kerr doesn’t care about score as long as Scots grab all three points
SCOTLAND V BELARUS
Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr says securing the three points will be the priority when her side gets the second half of 2019 World Cup qualifying underway against Belarus at Falkirk Stadium tonight. They then travel to Poland for a far tougher challenge in Kielce on Tuesday.
Top seeds Switzerland, who are not in action this week, head Group 2 with maximum points from five games. Scotland are second with nine points, but have played only four of their scheduled eight games. Belarus are holding up the five nation group with just one win – against Albania – from five.
“In an ideal world we want to play good football and score goals,” Kerr said, “but if we win 1-0 and we don’t perform to our optimal best I’ll take it. In a World Cup campaign, as manager of the national team, it’s three points first and foremost.”
The two sides met in Minsk last October and, while Belarus scored first, the 2-1 scoreline in favour of Scotland could have been more.
Tonight’s visitors lost 3-0 and 4-1 in their away games against Switzerland and Poland respectively, and a three-goal winning margin is a more realistic assessment of the likely outcome.
Without saying so in as many words, Kerr hinted strongly that the team which starts against Belarus will not be the one that faces Poland five days later. The Poles are a different proposition, even if their hopes of finishing at least second in the group look to have disappeared.
With the emphasis expected to be on attack, Kerr’s biggest problem may be who to leave out. Jane Ross, who scored the equaliser in Minsk and forced Belarus into an own goal for the second, has a fit-again Lana Clelland as competition for the main striking role.
The options then really stack up in the supporting positions. Claire Emslie and Lisa Evans were the wide players in Minsk but Fiona Brown and Lizzie Arnot have been rattling in the goals for Rosengard and Hibernian.
Kerr will also have to decide whether to play Kim Little at No 10, or in a deeper role. Erin Cuthbert, who is coming off a title winning season at Chelsea, is getting better all the time, but another contender, Christie Murray, has had very little game time at Glasgow City because of injury.