There was a common theme yesterday afternoon as both Caroline Weir and Pedro Martinez Losa called upon Scotland to show a lack of respect, in the nicest possible sense, to their World Cup finalist hosts this evening.
The Stadium of Light will welcome the Lionesses and Scotland as they kick off the inaugural UEFA Nations Women’s campaign with ample interest in the meeting after the FA announced a sell-out 48,000-strong crowd yesterday.
Sarina Wiegman’s side offer perhaps the most daunting of challenges for a Scotland side who are still very much a work in progress. Martinez Losa’s side lost out to the Republic of Ireland at Hampden almost a year ago as the Irish took their place at this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. Scotland have lost just one game since.
The success of the World Cup and the numbers it attracted served only to rub Scotland’s noses in it. This campaign, with Belgium, whom Scotland host at Hampden on Tuesday and the Netherlands also in the group should offer an indication of just where Martinez Losa’s side are. Still, an away game to an England side who are rightly considered one of the best teams in the women’s game at the minute, is a fairly ominous first step into a fresh campaign.
“I have a lot of respect for what the Lionesses have done in the past 12 months in terms of winning the Euros and getting to the World Cup final,” said Weir, the Real Madrid midfielder.
“They have paved the way for football in England the women’s game in general. I have a huge amount of respect for them but when it comes to playing them I am not going to be thinking too much about all those things.
“They are a top nation but it is a game we want to win and it is a game we think we can compete in. That is what I am thinking about now and our main focus is on getting a result.
“We want to go in there confident and on the front foot, be competitive and back ourselves.
“Our mentality going into the game is super important. More so than that is the concentration levels. It is a high level game and they will capitalise on any mistake. We need full focus which sounds quite boring but that is the reality.”
Weir also believes that Scotland are a better team than the side who lost to Ireland in the World Cup play-off final almost a year ago. The proof of that, she accepts, will be in how they acquit themselves across the next three months.
“We have young players coming through, we have had more games and more preparation since then,” she said. These are the games where we have to show it. We speak about the progress that we have made and we have had some good results against top nations but these are the games that really count. This is where we really see where we are at.
“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t hard to watch it [the World Cup],” she continued. “It can be difficult. I do feel like we are missing out but it also inspires me. I do genuinely think we are good enough to be at these tournaments so we have to use it as motivation.”
Meanwhile, Martinez Losa has urged his side to embrace the challenge of playing against Sarina Wiegman’s side with the Spaniard keen to see that his side can compete against the reigning European Champions.
The Nations League campaign, which can offer a convoluted backdoor entrance into Euro 2025, will offer a more telling indication of just where Scotland are.
“The realistic ambition of this team is to test ourselves against one of the best teams in the world,” said Martinez Losa. “We have the confidence that we will be able to compete at that level.
“We need to play with personality and with no fear. We have recognised many aspects of the game that we have been good at and we would like to make sure we can show that. I think this team is capable of doing that.
“The preparation for Euro 2025 starts now.”
