Scotland's women take on Israel on Saturday at Tynecastle and travel to Cork to play against the Republic of Ireland in two key Euro 2013 qualifying group games. The aim of the whole squad has been clearly focussed on qualifying for the finals to be held in Sweden. Picking up six points would be invaluable before they face Wales and France in September. The break would be welcomed to reflect and prepare for the biggest games in the qualifying stages. Coach Anna Signeul has had time to reflect on the recent reverse against Sweden (1-4 at Starks Park) ahead of preparing for the up-coming games. As qualification for Euro 2013 could do so much for the women's game in this country, Scotland cannot afford to relax in the double header. Focusing as ever on one game at a time, Signeul offered some thoughts ahead of Saturday's meeting with Israel.
National coach Anna Signeul (c) Ger Harley | SportPixShe said: "We are confident, however, we have huge respect for them (Israel) because they are a well organised team and also quite technical. They play a short passing game but they have a couple of players going forward that are quite fast like Moran Lavi who scored the last time we played them. So even though they have lost all their games so far, I don't think we can go into the game and think it will be easy. We want to go in and show, first of all, we can keep a clean sheet. We want to do that. We want to make sure that we start the game focussed. Even if I think we started the game well, three and four minutes and then the opponents have their first chance, that is when we really haven't been very good. We need to be able to defend well the first part of the game as well as attack well. It is important we get good movement; we get some confidence with a couple of players hopefully scoring some goals. I don't expect it to be easy. I have been looking at if Scotland can qualify as best runner up (as France have won the group). If we win the games that are left there is still two groups where the runners-up have lost to the group leaders but not to the rest of the group. They need to lose or draw at least one game. If we beat France then we have just lost five points. Theoretically, beating France and winning the other three games left we can make it. This is the incentive I am encouraging the players with. We are focussed on qualifying and going to the European Championships." Scotland have been playing well over the year with a steady improvement and consistency in performance being shown. The win may have been left a bit late the last time Scotland met the Republic of Ireland but it did show the squad that they were capable of coming back from an unexpected position, even late in the game. This sort of attitude is encouraging but Signeul is not about to get carried away. She said: "It has been a very good year so far, with some good results. However, we know when we played Sweden that you get reminded of where you are in the rankings. We are not really at that level yet but we are still good enough to qualify for the European Championships and we are really looking forward to these two games as it would be fantastic to have the summer to have at least two weeks rest for the players and have an interesting few weeks leading up to the last two qualifying games." Israel could be considered the whipping women of the group and Saturday could be a chance to allow some of the squad fringe players to get some game time without too much of a threat. However, this is not the attitude of the national coach. She does not see any game as being easy and intends to play her strongest side at Tynecastle. Signeul explained: "Although Israel are bottom of the group I don't plan to play a weakened side on Saturday. We don't have a lot of players (available to us) in Scotland so we are vulnerable. We can't play around with players. At this level players don't get so many chances to play together. That is also the reason why it is important that let the best players, that are in form and suitable for the system we want to play, play. If that means we play the same players who are in good shape on Thursday then it can be the same starting 11. We have to think about avoiding yellow cards or injuries so will be careful with our substitutions. We know what happened with Julie Fleeting in one of the qualifying campaigns; she was missing from an important game because she had two yellow cards. At the moment the only player with a yellow card is Kim (Little) and we don't want to lose her." With such a small pool of resources to call on at this level, injuries to just a couple of players can prove problematic for the national side. Having a get together ahead of big games allows the SFA medical team assess the players who all want to play for Scotland. Signeul was pleased to see her major headaches easing. She said: "Our injury situation is improving. I am pleased to see that with Ifeoma (Dieke) is back and played for her club team (Vittsjo GIK) on Saturday and they won again. New in the league and are joint top with two others. They are six points ahead of the fourth placed team. They were looking to just avoid relegation as their target. So I am pleased that she is back and she looked good in training. Rhonda (Jones) is back as well so that is good. Rachel Corsie, however, will link up with the squad till Friday night as she was on a course this week as part of her training to be an accountant. This means she will not be in the starting 11 on Saturday. We still have some small niggles but nothing significant."
Lisa Evans will be playing for Turbine Potsdam later this year (c) Ger Harley | SportPix Glasgow City recently announced that Lisa Evans would be moving to Turbine Potsdam in July. The German side met city in the last 16 of last season's Women's Champions league and beat them comprehensively home and away. That did not stop the full-time professional side making moves to take Evans to Germany as soon as possible. Signeul said of the move: "I think it is a fantastic opportunity for Lisa. It shows that if you work hard; if you are committed; are as dedicated as Lisa has been you have an opportunity to be a professional football player - even if you are Scottish. That shows to everyone else that you can turn professional. It is fantastic for Scotland as well. However, we have to work on two levels; first we want a good environment for the best players and we know that Lisa will develop in that good environment (in Germany) as a professional player like Hayley (Lauder who plays for Aland United) and the others. On the other hand, we don't want them to leave Scotland because we want the domestic league to develop and be a good competition. So if all the good players leave, this competition will suffer. It is a little like on the men's side of things., you need to work on both levels to get the domestic league better. Until we get professional opportunities in Scotland for women players, we will just have to accept that going to that sort of environment (the German league) is fantastic. However, I do think in Scotland that we do have a very, very good amateur set-up for the players. Especially the academy for players and also the new institutes so they can get really good training here. The only thing that they have to do is study or work to earn some money. But the training and the quality of coaches is good."Source: FOOTYMAD
