Qualifying for the 2019 World Cup in France is now underway, with the opening Group Two games providing no surprises for Shelley Kerr.
The Scotland head coach opted to use her first international window to work intensively with her squad prior to the 3-0 friendly win in Hungary a week last Thursday. The following day top seeds Switzerland won 4-1 in Albania, while Poland beat Belarus by the same score.
The four teams played again on Tuesday, with Switzerland beating Poland 2-1 and Belarus edging Albania 1-0. Scotland have the chance to join Switzerland on six points following next month’s double header against Belarus and Albania as these are the only games in October.
“The results went the way we expected them to,” Kerr said. “Perhaps one notable aspect is that all four teams have scored goals – as much as we’re trying to look at the way we play, and become more attacking, we have to be aware of the threat all the teams possess when they’re going forward. In international football there will always be one or two players who can hurt you.”
The Belarus game in Minsk on October 19 is the more difficult for Kerr and her players, as anything other than a comfortable win over Albania at St Mirren Park three days later would be a big setback.
Kerr’s assistant Andy Thomson (twice), Hibernian head coach Chris Roberts and Scottish FA elite performance coach Andy Goldie scouted the four group games.
“We’ll sit down and go through all the reports,” Kerr said. “We’re not concentrating on Switzerland at the moment – it’s very much Belarus and Albania.”
IT will be like old times at Petershill Park today, when Glasgow City host Spartans in a Scottish Building Society SWPL1 game.
It’s not a “proper” stadium in the way the Excelsior is, but given City’s attendances it provides a much more intimate and atmospheric setting. That is especially true on European nights. Once a new 4G artificial surface had been installed at the Glasgow Life facility it made sense for the champions to return permanently to the ground – and the city which is part of their title.
Playing at the Excelsior, a ground with no easy public transport access, was not fan-friendly, even if Scott Booth and his players enjoyed playing on the big surface. That was a big advantage in domestic games, but not so in the Champions League against fully professional sides.
“Airdrie has been fantastic,” Booth said. “It is a big pitch, which I like, but I understand it can be a bit of a hindrance when you play sides like Chelsea and Eskilstuna United.
“Getting people to come to the games is as much of a positive as anything else when they are right behind you. A lot of things have to be taken into consideration, but overall this move is for the best.”
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