England manager Sarina Wiegman said Scotland is unlikely to give away their match on Tuesday, as the result could affect Britain’s chances of playing at the Olympics next year. Netherlands manager Andries Jonker also called the Lionesses’ match “strange” because of the implications for British footballers at the Paris Games.
Wiegman told reporters in Glasgow on Monday that the rivalry between Scotland and England means the game will not be easy, adding, “They really want to beat England. And we want to beat them, of course.”
England, representing Team GB’s Olympic chances, must top the group to advance to the Nations League final four, with the finalists – or top three if Olympic hosts France make it through – securing Paris berths. Jonker said, “For many years, Great Britain has participated in the Olympics as Great Britain. It’s strange, but it’s not going to change.” He added, “The only thing we can do is keep this in our hands. Straight away, it was annoying, but it wasn’t going to change.”
The Lionesses kept their Olympic dreams alive with their 3-2 victory over the Netherlands on Friday at Wembley. England and the Netherlands are level on nine points atop Group A1 and have identical head-to-head records, but the Dutch have a better goal difference of plus-four versus plus-one. So, if both England and the Netherlands win their final group games, England must beat Scotland by three more goals than the Netherlands’ scoreline. Otherwise the Lionesses have to hope they beat Scotland and the Dutch drop points against Belgium.
Wiegman was asked when in the match she would decide to throw everything at Scotland having narrowly beaten them 2-1 in their previous encounter. She said, “We always try to have an attacking start, we want to score goals and we don’t want to concede any.” Midfielder Keira Walsh said goalkeeper Mary Earps was in good spirits after the Netherlands’ match and expressed confidence in her abilities.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
