Avoid the Granny

The Women’s Nations League campaign comes to an end tonight with Scotland in the Netherlands in what amounts to a bounce match. Kick off is 7.30pm oor time and it’s live on BBC Alba, and pretty much the only thing that Scotland have to play for at this point is to avoid getting grannied.

Botttom of the table, with no points on the board and only a couple of goals to our name courtesy of Emma Lawton against the Netherlands in a 2-1 defeat at Hampden…

And Caroline Weir against the Germans in the 6-1 defeat in Germany…

Scotland are six points behind Austria after the 1-0 defeat at Hampden last time out.

Bottom spot is already guaranteed, and with it relegation back to Nations League B, but actually this group is already all decided. Not only can we not catch Austria, but they are four points behind the Dutch and so will definitely finish third and face a playoff to stay in Nations League A. Tonight’s opponents are also guaranteed to finish second having lost 4-0 to Germany on Friday night.

That defeat means the Germans are three points clear at the top, and have the better head to head against the Dutch so cannot be overtaken. The Women’s Nations League only sees the group winners advance to the final, unlike the men’s, so the Dutch are out with nothing left to play for except warming up for the Euros in Switzerland next month.

As noted when Scotland faced the Netherlands at Hampden earlier this year, Scotland have only ever beaten the Dutch in the Cyprus Cup. Having already lost to them at Hampden in this campaign, there’s not much to look forward to in this game!

Really, this game is just another opportunity for Melissa Andreatta to get to grips with her squad, as well as the possibility of one final appearance from Rachel Corsie. There should be a few opportunities this year to try new things, so perhaps this is as good a time as any to get started. With nothing to lose, everything to gain, and Scotland looking to a new future, why not!

Euro 2025 will go on without us, we’ll have no competitive Nations League matches to play later this year when the finals and playoffs take place, so really all eyes are on our next set of competitive fixtures. Qualification for the World Cup in 2027 begins in February next year with the draw coming up in November. Although just like Euro 2025 qualifying, the League phase of the qualification for the World Cup will be a Nations League style campaign, so we’ll have a decent idea of who we can get!

But for now, this campaign needs to end, and hopefully it can end on some kind of positive note.

Good luck Scotland!