The reigning European champions face an unlikely set of transfers on Tuesday night in Glasgow, but there are reasons to believe
When the full-time whistle blew at Wembley on Friday, England’s players looked devastated. They collapsed on the lawn and thought about where they had managed to deal with Holland with some, notably Mary Earps, crying. But the Lionesses hadn’t lost the game – they had completed an incredible second-half turnaround to come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2.
The paradox of the result and the scenes on the pitch sum up the complex set of transfers facing England as their Women’s Nations League group campaign concludes in Scotland on Tuesday night. A two-goal win at Wembley would make things far less complicated and put things more firmly in the Lionesses’ hands – and the players knew it as they slammed the door to make it 4-2 when the referee called time on match.
A simple way of looking at it, however, is that if Sarina Wiegman’s side beat Scotland by a heavy margin, thereby overtaking the Netherlands in the standings on goal difference, they can progress to the next stage. That means they not only have a chance of winning a trophy, but also of booking Great Britain’s place in next summer’s Olympic women’s football tournament.
The Netherlands face a tough Belgium side at the same time on Tuesday, a side that have already beaten both the Dutch and England, so there is certainly a chance they could drop points. But the Lionesses will be fully focused on their own task of beating Scotland and rubbing salt in the wounds of their neighbours, who were relegated from League A of the Nations League after a draw with Belgium on Friday night.
After this remarkable turnaround at Wembley, England will have plenty of confidence that they can once again defy the odds to keep their Nations League and Olympic dreams alive. There are many reasons to believe, in fact, such as TARGET picks five of them…