This international break concludes the group stages of the Women’s World Cup qualifying.
Come Wednesday morning every team will know whether they have qualified directly for Australia and New Zealand next summer, if they have a lifeline through reaching the play-offs or whether the dream ends at this point and they have been eliminated.
Ahead of the final few fixtures, Northern Ireland are the only home nation to be eliminated from the possibility of still reaching the biggest global stage in football. They sit behind England and Austria and both are out of reach based on either points tally or head-to-head results.
The Scotland team had Republic of Ireland on in our hotel team room on Thursday night as they hosted Finland in a game that could secure a play-off berth and a step closer to a maiden World Cup.
In the end, London City’s Lily Agg gave Ireland a 1-0 victory that will mean they become a very possible opponent in next month’s play-off as they reached that stage for the first time in their history.
Wales face a similarly high-stakes game as they conclude their group matches against closest opponents Slovenia, who they welcome to Cardiff. The winner of that tie will confirm who finishes second in group I.
All teams in second place will qualify for a play-off position, however the complexities of working out the ranking order and who will then play who I think is best left to UEFA.
Ultimately, those given the top three positions will have one match fewer to play, as the teams seeded from four to nine will play a one-off match to eliminate another three countries.
For Scotland, we will likely fall outside of the top three but mathematically it is still possible if we manage to significantly improve our goal difference against the Faroe Islands on Tuesday.
Either way, preparations have already been long under way and the two international fixtures in this window are another step in our collective journey as we hope to push forward and find more consistency.
The last two qualification games showed moments of the work we have committed to and now we must demand more of that to find confidence and momentum at a crucial time.
The team cohesion continues to build and the culture amongst the group feels like it continues to be the best it’s been. The work on and off the pitch has undoubtedly made a difference over the last 12 months.
Although it has taken time to repair some of the emotional burden from before, the team is moving in a powerful and unified direction.
Difficult tie for Rangers
The Champions League draw for the second round was made on Thursday, with two British sides learning their fate.
Arsenal enter at this stage of the competition after finishing as runners-up in the Barclays WSL last season, while Rangers advanced from round one.
The sides couldn’t have met each other, due to them both being in different ‘paths’ in their qualification route.
💬 'It would be a massive achievement for us to qualify for the Group Stages.'
🌟 Tessel Middag spoke to @RangersTV as we look ahead to our next UEFA Women's Champions League challenge as we face Benfica in Round 2.#UWCL | @UWCL pic.twitter.com/kDf7YSZ4Ck
— Rangers Women (@RangersWFC) September 1, 2022
Arsenal were pooled via the “League Path” with other teams who had finished in second place in their respective domestic competitions and therefore could have been drawn against Real Madrid who eliminated club rivals Manchester City in round one too.
Their opponents will be Ajax, a side that has recently rebuilt itself along with the Dutch League, taking strides in the last two seasons to improve the professionalism and quality within the domestic game.
They knocked out German opponents Eintracht Frankfurt in the last round if anyone was needing confirmation that they are a side to seriously consider. It will be a tricky task for the Gunners.
Rangers face Portuguese champions, Benfica, in the ‘Champions Path’ as 14 teams remain in this portion of the draw. All won their respective leagues with all but three teams progressing through the last round – FC Rosengård, Slavia Praha and HB Køge enter now based on their countries superior coefficients.
Benfica will be another difficult tie for Rangers. They are a growing side with number of their national team stars.
Nonetheless, it will be a fantastic experience for the side’s first venture in the competition, with the greatest pressure coming from themselves.
Big crowd expected for derby
The North London derby later this month already looks set to break more records in the game South of the border.
Arsenal face Spurs at the Emirates on September 24 and more than 38,500 tickets have already been sold.
Currently the return fixture holds the record, when Spurs played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time in 2019 in front of 38,262 spectators.
The growth is starting to swing the balance in the argument for playing at club’s main stadiums going forward.
