Harriet Scott says she doesn’t see the current strife within Canadian football as a World Cup bonus.
Canada’s players have reluctantly called off their strike against cuts made to their programme by the national association, ahead of tomorrow’s SheBelieves Cup clash with the USA.
Birmingham City defender Scott has seen how player power can influence positive change at club and international level.
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And she is eager to see a resolution to the turmoil that threatens to disrupt Ireland’s group stage opponents’ World Cup preparations.
Scott, who turned 30 last week, is in Spain with the rest of her international teammates at a training camp ahead of next week’s friendly with China.
She said: “It’s never nice to see that there are disputes between a team and their federation.
“There’s obviously reasons behind it, none of us know the full story, but at the moment, we just want every team to be as supported as they should be because it’s a growing game and a growing sport and it needs the full support and backing.
“We’re really fortunate that at this moment we’re in a really good place with the FAI and the support we get from the FAI.
“That came from having some very tough conversations a few years ago.
“So all I’m hoping for with Canada is that both sides have a resolution to the dispute they’re having at the moment.
“All we want is people performing at their best and every country getting the support they need.”
Asked if a Canada side in turmoil would be good for the Girls in Green, given that the Olympic champions would be favourites in normal circumstances.
“I haven’t thought that way about it,” replied the Reading-born ace.
“I personally would like to play a team not when they’re down, I want to play a team when they are at their absolute best; so that we can perform at our best and still compete with them.
“A few years ago we played the Netherlands just after they won the Euros.
“They were at their absolute peak, so when we went away and got a draw, that was probably the most satisfying result for me.
“I want to compete against Canada when they are flying.”
Scott referred to the women’s battle with the FAI in 2017 for better standards and facilities.
At club level, meanwhile, Scott and her Birmingham City teammates recently fought for more of the facilities available to the men’s side.
“There was a time before when maybe we weren’t getting the support we should have got from Birmingham,” she said.
“That is something the girls, we all felt strongly about, which is why we approached the club and tried to get things sorted.
“At this point, we’re in a much better place. The club supported us, the recruitment we had for this season has been really strong which for previous years we’ve struggled to do.
“Facilities wise we’re now playing at the men’s ground, we’re provided with food, high quality and standard in food, the same as the men’s team.
“We have access to a gym, there is not too much more…obviously there are always things where we could say, ‘We could have an improvement here, or an improvement there’ but we’re in a much better place and we’re supported in our work environment.
“All we really want is we want to thrive in our work environment because that will help us on the pitch, and at the moment, we’re given the support, we just need to see results be better.”
Ireland’s World Cup preparations are continuing this week, ahead of July’s trip Down Under, where they will face co-hosts Australia, Canada and Nigeria.
“We know we have to be at our very best to get something from those teams. And we’re not shying away from that at all. We need to focus on ourselves as much as possible,” said Scott.
“There’s 23 spots for players (at the World Cup) and I think everyone is very aware of that.
“Having said that we are a very tight knit group, we’ve always got on, every year I’ve been involved in the team it’s been a very tight knit group. Nothing is going to change that.
“At the end of the day all we want is to play for our country and represent our nation. If some of us don’t make it we’ll still be proud of the people who do.”
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