Scotland 0-6 England (Greenwood 12’, James 38’, 39’, Mead 45+1, Kirby 49’, Bronze 90+3)
HAMPDEN PARK – Failure had never before entered the vernacular of this England side, for whom even their biggest disappointments have usually come laced with an aftertaste of glory.
Yet in spite of a 6-0 thrashing of Scotland, there will be no Olympic football for Team GB next summer after the Netherlands’ remarkable late flourish against Belgium ensured the Dutch topped Nations League Group A1. For a few dying seconds, with England needing to better the Netherlands’ result by three goals, Lucy Bronze’s injury time goal looked like it had been enough. Sarina Wiegman’s homeland had other ideas.
England had it all to lose for both nations, and the Netherlands may well question the integrity of this fixture, which had such an obvious incentive for Scotland’s Olympic hopefuls to collapse. But this was not a night for tin hats – the gulf was evident from kick-off.
While in men’s football, the Olympics may be a relative non-event, behind more noble pursuits like trampoline and dressage, it has traditionally been central to the women’s game. There is perhaps an argument that England, European champions and World Cup finalists, have outgrown it, but that is certainly not the case for a Scottish side handed a cruel reminder of how far they have yet to go.
That is unlikely to change until they can decisively capture the public imagination north of the border. A three-quarters empty Hampden suggests that is simply not happening.
Their manager, Pedro Martinez Losa, cut a resigned figure even before England had begun the goal-fest, both hands stuffed submissively deep into his pockets with all the vigour you might expect from a Madrid native in the Baltic Glaswegian air.
It had been an interesting quirk that in defeat, his already relegated team so nearly helped the British cause.
With Scottish captain Rachel Corsie decrying the “huge insult” from those questioning whether her players really wanted to win, there was no disputing how much they cared. If the Olympics was the dream, getting one over on the Auld Enemy would have been nirvana.
Exhibit A: the screams of goalkeeper Lee Alexander, as she berated her standstill defence for leaving Alex Greenwood unattended for the opener.
It was only the first notes of the symphony for Lauren James, who dance-like sprung through the back line for two sweetly taken goals in as many minutes. Niamh Charles soared down the flanks. James’ mazy dribbles embarrassed a Scottish defence lacking physicality, teeing up Lauren Hemp to hit the bar and assisting Beth Mead’s training ground finish – her first international strike since her ACL rupture.
Misery for the Scots, had been compounded by a cool Fran Kirby tap-in and Bronze’s last-ditch header. Back in September, when these two sides met at the Stadium of Light, it was decided by one goal (cue the sound of Dutch eyes rolling). Here, what might have been a historic derby merely descended into chaos.
So Wiegman’s troops won the battle but lost the war. The Netherlands will find out their Nations League semi-final opponents in the draw on 11 December.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/1ebTQyx
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