Scotland’s last outing against Belgium came at a considerable cost. It is, by his own admission, also the angriest the generally even-tempered Pedro Martinez Losa has been since assuming the role of women’s national team manager.
The reason for his fury was twofold; a Belgian side whom he felt set out to target key players with overly physical treatment and a referee - Eleni Antoniou - who failed to deal with it. The game ended in a draw after Sophie Howard rescued a point in the last seconds of the game, the only point Scotland have taken from the inaugural Nations League campaign.
If the failure to win at home was bruising - relegation looks likely - the loss of Carolin Weir was more significant. The Real Madrid midfielder ruptured her ACL in the game with her absence a clear struggle for Scotland to deal with given her credentials as a player of genuine elite level.
“It is the most angry I have been in the last two years and I have the same feelings,” said Pedro Martinez Losa. “The most painful was losing important players and it was painful for the group - it has taken some effort mentally to recover from that.
“I think we can back strongly and we have stayed in touch with Caroline and Emma [Watson] and I think we are progressing. Belgium are a dangerous team in terms of their counter-attacking as has been shown with their performances within the group and their appearances at the European Championships. It is a challenge for us to aim and reach those levels of consistency.
“But in the last game against them we showed that it is still in our DNA to fight until the end and I think we deserved more than just a point from that game.”
Scotland close their campaign with tonight’s game before they host World Cup finalists England at Hampden on Tuesday night. Martinez Losa was inevitably keen to point to the fact that Scotland could, in theory, still survive in the top league although there is little evidence to suggest they will take two wins from two. Even six points would still require a favour from the Netherlands.
“We have been working hard and we will go in together with a game plan to compete until the last moments of the game and we will look to keep ourselves in the competition,” said the Spanaird.
“The last two training sessions have been good and there has been a lot of energy. We have good examples from players and staff and it has been very professional.”
