The Scotland squad was announced this week for the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.
The match will take place on the evening of Friday, June 24 in Poland, with Scotland meeting up tonight, before we travel ahead of the match on Thursday morning.
Head coach, Pedro Martinez Losa named a fairly similar squad to that involved in the last camp in April against Spain. The 23-player squad includes a return for Celtic duo Kelly Clark and Lisa Robertson.
Stonehaven’s Christy Grimshaw misses out as she continues her return to fitness following a fractured foot that happened during the last international window, while Hibernian defender Leah Eddie also hasn’t been included this time around.
The entirety of the starting XI in the narrow 2-0 defeat to Spain remain in the current squad, although competitiveness for a starting spot will undoubtedly be very evident during the week’s work and all spots will need to be earned once again.
The game will be the penultimate qualification match and a place in the play-offs remains at stake as pressure grows for us to secure a spot.
Scotland are currently sitting second in Group B, with Spain having already secured the top place finish. Both Hungary and Ukraine are narrowly chasing us and are still in with the possibility of catching us.
Almost all of the squad selected have had their boots back on this week as part of a provisional training camp that was facilitated at Oriam’s Performance Centre.
Those few days enabled the players to get rid of some of the rustiness that might have otherwise carried into next week’s work. The game comes at a similarly unfortunate time as with the last men’s window, with almost all of the squad being somewhere in the midst of their supposed time off.
Although all the players will be following an individualised training regime, the lack of team training and competitive football makes for an unavoidable feeling of being a little less-prepared than preferred.
That said, it certainly won’t be allowed as an excuse for any slip-ups.
Our week of preparation will begin on Sunday evening, when the full squad meets at our Edinburgh base for a few days training in our own familiar environment at Oriam, which will host most of our crucial preparations both on and off the pitch.
That precedes the final preparations that will then happen as the team gets on the plane to Poland 36 hours before the match.
The game itself will take place in Rzeszow, at Stadion Miejski, at 8.15pm local time, with BBC Alba coverage showing the game live 7.15pm back home.
The stadium is only an hour from the Ukraine border, with a significant number of Ukrainians having fled their country to close by locations.
The match is anticipated to be a fairly intense environment for us, as a significant number of Ukraine fans are expected to be in attendance. It goes without saying, that undoubtedly all the locals will also be in support of our opponents on the night.
England begin Euro preparation with a win
England began their competitive preparations with the first of three friendlies on Thursday night, as they faced Belgium at Molineux. The 3-0 win was a fair result, as England enjoyed a largely comfortable evening without too much exuberance.
From the starting XI that Sarina Wiegman set out with, it is likely to have been a hybrid of what she considers her best team, along with an opportunity for some others who won’t likely play as many minutes to show what they can do.
Captain Leah Williamson started, along with Mary Earps, Millie Bright and Lucy Bronze who will likely be fundamental to England’s defensive successes.
The left-side of defense appears to be an area that could be up for some variability, as Lotte Wubben-Moy and Alex Greenwood shared a half each at centre-back, meanwhile Demi Stokes and Rachel Daly split 45 minutes at left back.
Daly, who often finds herself on the scoresheet for her club where she plays upfront, was also on target on Thursday. Her instinctive finish to make it 2-0 shows why she could be an asset for England.
All three of England’s opponents will feature at this summer’s tournament so the tests are a relative assessment of where England are in their preparations.
Whilst every team will not want to give away too much at this stage, naturally everyone in action is playing for their place in a starting eleven in the weeks to come and so the matches appear to be a nervy yet feisty affair.
The Netherlands are next up on Friday, which will be a far trickier test for Wiegman and her players.
Celtic’s Jacynta Galabadaarachchi has been called up into the senior Matildas squad for the first time.
After earning the cup double with her club side and also being crowned as PFA Young Player of the Year, she has been called into the Australia squad ahead of their double header against Spain and Portugal at the end of the month.
"I've been working really hard and I've had quite a good season, so when I got the call, I felt like I was being rewarded for that,"
After an incredible season with @CelticFCWomen, Jacynta is entering camp on a high! #WeAreMatildas
— CommBank Matildas (@TheMatildas) June 14, 2022
The 21-year-old could also represent Argentina and Italy but hopes to make her international debut next week.
Glasgow City look set to rebuild their squad after they announced the departure of seven players – most notably, midfielder Niamh Farrelly and forward Ode Fulutudilu.
