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For the first time in the history of Scottish Women’s football, the Scotland Women’s National team have made it to the World Cup in France 2019
Scotland’s very own women’s football team have made history, as they have fully qualified for the women’s football world cup in France next summer. This will be the first time Scotland women have made it to any World Cup, but also the first time since 1998 that any Scottish side have been to a world cup.
For some of the players, this has always been a childhood dream of theirs, to go to a world cup and even just to play for their country. However, their dream came true after they bet Albania 2-1 in a tough match last Tuesday. Even for the manager of the Scotland side, Shelley Kerr, has always dreamed of this moment and showed her emotion in an interview with the Guardian,
“It’s not often I’m lost for words but I’m really emotional.”
She continued to show her appreciation for the magnificent players and showed her gratitude with regards to the journey that has taken the dedicated team to the World Cup:
“We’ve done it the hard way during the campaign but we’ve shown great maturity and determination to succeed. These moments don’t come along too often so I’m absolutely ecstatic and it’ll take a while for it to sink in that we’re off to our first World Cup.”
Players who contributed to this outstanding result
Without a doubt every player played a role in getting Scotland to the World Cup, but certain players did stand out.
The midfielder, Erin Cuthbert, played a tremendous part in getting Scotland to the World Cup, as she managed to claim four goals in four games before Scotland and Albania met, therefore helping them get to the stage in the competition. She is definitely one of the key players in Scotland’s success and will be one to watch at next year’s World Cup.
Another key player in gaining qualification for Scotland was midfielder, Kim Little, who now has a chance on the world’s biggest football stage after missing out on the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 after dealing with a ACL injury. She certainly showed her skill in the winning game against Albania, scoring the opening goal for Scotland helping them gain that place in the World Cup in France 2019.
Finally another outstanding member of Scotland’s National team is our very own Lee Alexander. The player, who is from East Kilbride herself, played a massive role in this journey playing in the position of goalkeeper. Throughout Scotland’s journey to the World Cup qualification she made some amazing saves in goals in order to push Scotland to winning a place. Lee, who is the Glasgow City goalkeeper and originally from Sweartfield, helped with their 2-1 victory to book themselves a place to the World Cup 2019. She definitely showed her emotions as, a week on from the momentous day, she is still in a state of shock as she told the East Kilbride news how exciting and overwhelming her success has been:
“Even on the pitch we didn’t really know exactly what was happening until the final whistle went. It was just raw emotion at the end. You wanted to cry but you couldn’t cry. There was shock… everything was bundled into one, but I didn’t know what to do with myself because there was so much disbelief.”
Lee Alexander also helped lead Glasgow City to winning 14 trophies and also winning their 11th league title. She is now also involved in taking them in the hope to qualify for the Women’s Champions League 2018/19, in the hope to qualify in the last 16 teams in which they have never made before. Alexander will be a goalkeeper to watch over the next coming months and at France next year.
The next time we see Scotland Women’s National football team will be in France 2019, playing for their country in the world’s biggest football event, the World Cup!
• By Meghan Welsh, Reporter
• Sources: BBC Sport, BT Sport, East Kilbride News, the Guardian
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