Scotland carry no burden in chase for World Cup spot
Scotland head coach Melissa Andreatta insists the squad do not feel burdened by missing out on previous major finals and have created a "perfect storm" to move forward in their quest to reach next year's World Cup in Brazil. The Scots lead their qualifying group on goal difference from Belgium, who they meet in Leuven on Saturday. The teams shared a 1-1 draw at Easter Road on Tuesday thanks to Kathleen McGovern's stoppage-time strike.
As they seek a first major tournament spot since 2019, Andreatta is adamant her players have what it takes to move forward without fear of failure. "No, the burden doesn't exist within this group," she told BBC Scotland. "There's a respect for what's happened in the past and I want to learn from it and do everything that we can to avoid that occurring again, but it's not a burden for us.
"We're excited for the challenge, we're embracing it and together with some of the new faces and energy that's within the team, there's a great mix of that experience and energy that's created this perfect storm of power, confidence, strength and bravery that is going to move us closer towards the type of performances that earn you the right to be at those major tournaments. " With so much focus on Scotland's women reaching a major tournament again, Andreatta revealed there's no internal talk about achieving that goal. "I think because we've owned it and we've really set that as our goal now for us on the day-to-day front, it's all about the processes and what we can do within our control to put ourselves in the best position to earn the right to be at a major tournament again," explained the Australian.
"There's no talk about it at all really because we all understand and know it's our daily practices, our processes that are going to get us to the common goal that we all have for this great nation. "I think one area [of development since being appointed last year] was purpose and part of that purpose is really clarifying what we want to do and how we want to do it," she explained, "The how part is really being clear about our identity and Scottish football and what this team is all about and how they want to go about business. "I think we've really reconnected to that and you're seeing it in the way that they play, that they never stop no matter scenarios or situations that they're faced.
I think that's been a key ingredient for us to reconnect to and give us an extra edge in recent games. " Andreatta confirmed Emma Lawton's absence, with the Celtic full-back suffering an ankle injury on Tuesday. Maria McAneny and Leah Eddie withdrew prior to the first game of the double-header.