Imagination and incision proved strangers amid a frustrating impasse in Edinburgh as the first leg of this Euro 2025 qualification playoff remained stubbornly goalless.
Given that Tuesday’s second leg is in Helsinki, Finland are probably slight favourites to reach next summer’s finals in Switzerland after Scotland’s worrying lack of creativity let them down.
“We did well with the dirty part of the game,” said the home manager, Pedro Martínez Losa, whose side extended their unbeaten run to nine games. “If we keep defending like that we’ll just need one opportunity to win in Finland.”
Chances were certainly at a premium in this rather nervy duel. As well as Scotland defended, with Sophie Howard in particular shining, they were poor in possession and offered the 8,800 crowd precious little in the way of excitement.
That rather modest audience prompts question as to why they not stage this fixture on a Saturday afternoon? Friday nights, particularly at the very end of a cold Scottish November, are far from ideal for live football audiences but it is safe to assume that the swathes of empty green seats at Easter Road would have been better filled by the Edinburgh public had there been a more family-friendly daytime kick-off. Where is the common sense in Uefa’s corridors of power, surely growing live audiences has to be the priority at this stage of the women’s game’s evolution?
In reality, television calls the tune but those broadcast paymasters must have been dismayed with the unrelenting scrappiness on show as tension smothered talent. Martínez Losa, formerly in charge of Arsenal and now under increasing pressure in his new incarnation north of the border, had said this playoff represented “the most important moment” of his career. Yet, as Marko Saloranta’s Finland dominated for long periods, the home players seemed overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of their situation.
Fortunately for a highly animated, not to say agitated, Scotland manager, the home goalkeeper, Eartha Cummings, proved poise personified as she made some important early saves, most notably from Linda Sällström.
With Martínez Losa’s side slowed down and the crowd subdued by Finland’s smart game management Caroline Weir struggled to make her customary impact. The Real Madrid creator was back out after a year on the sidelines nursing a serious knee injury but found herself largely restricted to shooting from distance.
No matter; the introduction of Aston Villa’s Kirsty Hanson from the bench improved Scotland, with Hanson helping bring the best out in Weir, if not Chelsea’s often strangely subdued Erin Cuthbert.
Unfortunately for Martínez Losa though this Hanson-inspired mini Scottish renaissance merely seemed to galvanise a Finland side ranked 26th in Fifa’s world pecking order.
Scotland sit three places higher but few neutrals would have guessed as they struggled to establish any semblance of cohesive rhythm and remained alarmingly poor in possession. Had Sällström made a better connection with Sanni Franssi’s fine ball in Finland would surely have scored.
Instead Martínez Losa’s players travel to Helsinki with their hopes of reaching Switzerland still very much alive – if not exactly kicking.
