CHANGED DAYS
at least preferred a personal phone call to hear it first hand. If selected, I also wouldn’t have liked to have been on tenterhooks for the following 24 hours. I factored it all in and wanted to try and do things the right way, as I saw it. It was a gut feeling I had and I’m glad I did it, even if it was tough. I star ted at 10am on Monday and it was almost 5pm before I finished.
“It was a tough day for the players who were disappointed. I understand t h e i r d i s a p p o i n t m e n t , anger and frustrati on. N o t h i n g I c o u l d have said to them on Monday could h a v e m a d e i t a n y e a s i e r. I a p p r e c i a t e t h a t . T h e r e w e r e s o m e good phone c a l l s i n t h e r e , b u t t h e who le day for me was draining and emotional. I still feel for the ones who haven’t been selected and that will never leave me, to be honest. I have offered to go and sit down and talk to them face to face once they have time to reflect. They might not want that, but I will tr y to accommodate anything they want because they deserve that.”
Kerr has to move on, though. She is convinced that S cotland women can become the first senior national side to make it b eyond the first group stage of a World Cup. “It’s really important for us that we focus on that target,” she said. “We know we’ll have to win at least one game. Does it need to be the first game [against England on 9 June]? It’d be great if it was. But we need to make sure we’re focussed and then we refocus after each game because we know that we’re going to have to do that.
“We know it’s going to b e tough because you have England – who are tipped to win it – Japan – tipped to win it – and Argentina who have been at a World Cup before and are a progressing nation. So we know it’s going to be tough but that is our target. And, realistically, I think it’s achievable.”
What this Scotland won’t be is beset by any feeling that there is a Scottish psyche that seems to be programmed to produce glorious failure – or dash dreams and hopes in the most deperate fashion. If her players were so possessed of such a flaw, they wouldn’t be on their way to France.
“Listen, I don’t believe in the psyche thing. For me, you look at our campaign. Think about the first game,. We had a new coach for the first time in 12 years in me after Anna [Signeul] had done a great job and put the foundations in place, and we were battering Belarus… and went a goal down [ b e f o r e c l a i mi n g a 2 -1 away wi n ] . S o we have had to cop e with a lot throughout the campaign.
“A g a i n s t P o l a n d , w e w e r e 2 - 0 down with 12 minutes left and we go and win 3-2. So there were so many moments throughout the campaign that have helped develop confidence a n d c h a r a c t e r wi t h i n t h i s s q u a d . I think you see the way they play, they give their all for the national team.”
Kerr is excited about the send-off that awaits with the team’s final preparator y fixture, against Jamaica at Hamp den on 28 May. B et ween
“When I made my Scotland debut I had to pay £50 to stay in a hotel in Edinburgh and I didn’t have the whole Scotland tracksuit to wear. I wore the top and someone else wore the bottoms. So you can imagine how I’m feeling today”