Today, Scotland's coach of the women's national team, Anna Signeul announced an 18 player squad for the UEFA Women's EURO2013 Qualifying group games against France (31 March) and the Republic of Ireland (5 April). The squad is three players smaller than the one which was involved in the recent Cyprus Women's Cup but is not short of experience with nine players having picked up 50 or more caps in their career to date. The challenges faced in Cyprus where Scotland played Canada (lost 5-1), Italy (lost 2-1) and Holland (won 2-1) in the group stages and beat South Africa 2-0 in the play-offs for the final placings will stand the team in good stead for the double header. France picked up the Cyprus Cup so Scotland know that they will have to be on their best form when they meet at Municipal Jules-Deschaseaux, Le Harve at the end of the month. After the squad announcement Signeul and defender Ifeoma Dieke were confident that Scotland will not go into the game with any other attitude other than they will win the game.
Looking back at the Cyprus tournament, Singeul said: "We definitely had four good games in terms of high intensity. We could see that when we came into the tournament that we would play teams like Italy that in the middle of their season and I think that makes a difference. In terms of where we are and where the players are we got some questions answered. This year when we went into the cup we were more vulnerable you could say. Kim (Little) had a little bit of a hamstring, Rachel Corsie coming back from her operation and Megan (Sneddon) was not fully fit when she came back to the squad so were were not as good physically as good as we were last year. If we had been (at 100%) I think we could have a little bit better results but we are absolutely pleased about how we performed. We also learned that their is great competition in the squad now so everyone has to really fight for their place. I think competition is good because that makes everybody work harder. We are coming to the situation where the starting 11 is not clear - it depends on the opposition; how we want to play it also depends on the individual players fitness and if they are in good form."Of course, football is not just a physical game any more, there is also the mental attitude to take into account. Playing teams higher in the FIFA rankings can be daunting and the Scotland back room staff have to play the physiological card as they prepare the team ahead of games. Singeul said: "Every year we develop, and we can take the last game in Cyprus as a typical example of how much we have developed. Two or three years ago we played South Africa, we won two years ago and lost three years ago and we had problems playing against them as they are quite tough to play against as they are very fast and irrational but this year we absolutely had no problem at all. I think we were superior over them and even if we only scored two goals, I was never worried that they would score. That proves how much we have developed, I think they (South Africa) have developed as well but that just shows we much have developed as we were starting from a lower point. We go into games and want to win, of course everybody wants to win their games, but we also think we can win, believe we can win and that is why we get so disappointed when we don't win, when we concede so many goals like we did against Canada and when we didn't win against Italy. We definitely feel that we can compete on this level. We saw a France team in Cyprus that was perhaps the best we have seen in the twelve times we have scouted them since we knew we were in the same EURO2013 qualifying group as them. I have never seen them play so well. In the World Cup last summer, they played very well in attack but they defended with six or seven players. I thought they were a little bit vulnerable in defence but in Cyprus I just thought they were very, very good. But they are also in the middle of their season and there is a huge difference for us now and that is what is important. We are to play France who on the top of their game now, but we have had the Northern Ireland game, the four games in Cyprus, the Premier League started on Sunday and the League Cup started the Sunday before that. Now most of our players have had six or seven games and that will deliver a huge difference for us."
GoalkeepersGemma Fay (Celtic)(C)Shannon Lynn (Hibs)DefendersFrankie Brown (Hibs)Rachel Corsie (Glasgow City)Ifeoma Dieke (Unattached)Emma Fernon (Glasgow City)Rhonda Jones (Celtic)Rachael Small (Forfar Farmington)MidfieldHayley Lauder (Aland United)Kim Little (Arsenal)Joanne Love (Glasgow City)Leanne Ross (Glasgow City)Megan Sneddon (Celtic)ForwardsJennifer Beattie (Arsenal)Lisa Evans (Glasgow City)Suzanne Grant (Celtic)Christie Murray (Glasgow City)Jane Ross (Glasgow City)Source: FOOTYMAD
