England’s showdown with Scotland makes mockery of Olympic qualification course of

After England’s good comeback to edge previous the Netherlands at Wembley, Nice Britain’s Olympic flame continues to be burning. However their qualification battle will go all the way down to the wire – and in essentially the most extraordinary of circumstances.

The Lionesses should beat Scotland of their last Nations League group sport on Tuesday night time – and higher the results of their Dutch counterparts – to qualify on behalf of Staff GB for the Video games subsequent summer time in Paris.

If England and the Netherlands each win, the Lionesses would want to triumph by not less than a three-goal margin better than the Dutch.

Primarily, Scottish gamers should entrance as much as their English foes, understanding deep down that they have to give up to their opponents if they’re to have any hope of enjoying within the Olympics.

Already, it feels unusual and lopsided. The Netherlands, who uncovered England’s defensive frailties in a flat first half at Wembley, have each proper to name it unfair.

With the Lionesses the nominated nation to qualify on behalf of Staff GB, pitting England and Scotland in the identical group makes a mockery of the Nations League as a qualification course of for the Olympics. A fixture that will usually be steeped in fierce rivalry has misplaced all inkling of integrity, earlier than a ball has even been kicked.

A penny for the ideas of Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker, who appeared in jovial spirits regardless of watching his aspect squander a two-goal lead on a bitterly chilly night time in north London.

When requested about England and Scotland being in the identical group, he responded: “When the draw was made, I stated to the gamers the one factor we are able to do is hold this in our arms. Immediately, it was annoying, but it surely wasn’t going to vary.”

But he gave a quite diplomatic response when pressed on the conundrum. “For a few years, Nice Britain has participated within the Olympics as Staff Nice Britain,” he stated, a wry smile spreading throughout his face. “It’s unusual, but it surely’s not going to vary.

“I used to be current in historical past classes at college. We discovered in regards to the relationship between the British nations however they need nothing greater than to beat one another. For a Scottish sportsperson, it’s an honour to beat the English.

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“In rugby, Scotland and England is all the time a battle. Within the ladies’s sport, it’s going to be the identical, regardless of the truth that a participant like [Scotland and Chelsea star] Erin Cuthbert would take part in a Nice Britain group.”

There are two issues to unpack right here. One, that the top coach of the Netherlands ladies’s soccer group is an unlikely rugby admirer who, in referencing England’s upcoming battle with the Auld Enemy, was doing his finest to supply an optimistic outlook.

However the truth he name-dropped Cuthbert, Scotland’s taliswoman who would undeniably make the reduce for a Nice Britain group, was telling. Given her nation didn’t qualify for this yr’s World Cup, subsequent yr’s Olympics in Paris could be the head of Cuthbert’s profession.

Sure, any GB squad would seemingly function a big contingent of English gamers. There have been solely three non-English gamers in Hege Riise’s Nice Britain squad in Tokyo – Caroline Weir, Kim Little and Wales’ Sophie Ingle. The latter two had been the then respective captains of the Scotland and Wales nationwide groups.

Nonetheless, the identical rationale talked about above for Cuthbert applies to her team-mates, corresponding to Actual Madrid’s Weir – ought to she get well from a severe knee damage in time – and Aston Villa ahead Kirsty Hanson. Each could be within the combine for a Nice Britain aspect.

“I hope Scotland will not less than attempt with every part they’ve,” stated Netherlands striker Lineth Beerensteyn, whose brace of first-half objectives at Wembley noticed Nice Britain’s Olympic hopes hanging by a thread. You marvel if her prayers might be answered.

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