Scotland manager Melissa Andreatta has said that it needs to be all systems go again on Tuesday night as her side look to finish their FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification campaign at the top of League B, Group 4.
As it stands, they currently lead Belgium by virtue of a goal difference that is superior by four.
With Belgium away to Luxembourg this week and Scotland squaring off against Israel, whom they emphatically beat 6-0 on Friday night, goal difference looks set to determine who emerges top of the pile.
Doing so will not equate to a golden ticket to Brazil next summer for the World Cup. Scotland’s League B position means that they knew before a ball was kicked in this campaign that they would have to negotiate a play-off route.
However, finishing top would give them the best possible seeding and facilitate an easier play-off route this autumn.
It would also take them back into League A for the Nations League campaign. But the main goal is to be back at a major tournament for the first time since 2019.
With only League A group winners qualifying directly from Europe for next year’s World Cup, three teams from Scotland's group qualify for the play-offs.
The group winners will be seeded along with teams finishing fourth in League A in matches against runners-up and third-placed teams from League B.
“We have got to keep sticking to the process,” said Andreatta. “I was very pleased with so many aspects of our performance on Friday night, but I still think that we can improve in certain areas.
"I thought we were intelligent at times, collective in our defending and very much showed the team we want to be when we were in the final third and attacking the game.
"We know the importance of goal difference, but we also have to keep our concentration and play to our principles.”
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Caroline Weir netted a hat-trick on Friday night with Erin Cuthbert, Lauren Davidson and Kirsty Hanson all chipping in. The night was overshadowed, though, by what appeared to be a serious injury to Cuthbert with the game in added time.
Stretchered off in clear discomfort, the Chelsea midfielder was taken to hospital. No update has been forthcoming about the injury and its severity.
That will be one issue for Andreatta, while another is the aspect of the second closed-doors game in the Bozsik Arena. The build-up to the games was dominated by the political situation in Gaza and the question over whether the games should actually be going ahead at all.
Andreatta has remained consistent that all she can do is focus on preparing the players. “This group has done it before and had experience of playing behind closed doors,” she said. “I am also familiar with it.
"All we can do is control the things that we can control. It was important to me to understand the situation, but at the end of the day, it is all about football. I have been appointed to get this team to play a level of football that gets them back to major tournaments and that is what I have to focus on.
“We showed so many of the characteristics that I want to see in the team on Friday night. The challenge now is to rest and recover and get our sights set on doing that again on Tuesday night.”
Claire Emslie played 45 minutes against Israel on Friday night. It was the winger’s first international game since the birth of her son, Jamie, at the end of December, with Andreatta praising the professionalism of the player.
“She has had a lot of support from her club to get back to playing international football so quickly,” said the Scotland manager. “But she has also shown an enormous dedication to getting herself back so fit, so quickly.”
