Jane Ross, the Scotland striker, will face a familiar opponent at Tynecastle tomorrow as she aims to maintain a rich vein of form at international level against the Netherlands.
The former Glasgow City player, who is now with the Swedish club Vittsjo, scored 13 goals in just 10 Group 4 qualifying games to help Scotland into the World Cup play-offs. Italy and Ukraine meet in the other semi-final.
The Dutch player likely to be marking Ross at Tynecastle is her Vittsjo team-mate, Mandy van den Berg. The left-sided central defender is expected to win her 49th and 50th caps over the two legs, the second of which is in Rotterdam next Thursday.
The two players are often in direct opposition in training, and Ross admitted: "It's going to be a challenge because she is a very good player. We've been team-mates for two years now, so we obviously know each other's strengths and weaknesses.
"That should make it interesting."
Ross is one of four Scotland players at Vittsjo - the others being goalkeeper Shannon Lynn, and defenders Ifeoma Dieke and Hayley Lauder. Any ribbing of Van den Berg has come from their direction. "I like to stay quiet," the striker pointed out.
The 25-year-old from Rothesay is also modest, playing down the fact that she was joint top scorer in Europe in the qualifiers. "So I was informed," she said. "Obviously, I was pleased with the number of goals I scored - but now the priority is to win these next two games."
Ross, who travelled from Bute to Paisley to play football every weekend as a teenager, made her international debut against England in 2009. She won her 75th cap against Sweden in the final Group 4 match in Gothenburg last month and has 33 Scotland goals - just two behind Kim Little in the current squad.
Her strike ratio dramatically accelerated in the qualifiers when she scored three hat tricks. Two of them were away from home, against Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the third at Fir Park against the Faroe Islands.
As well as Van den Berg, three other experienced members of the Dutch squad play their football in Sweden. They all play for Goteborg, who are heavily sponsored by the Kopparbergs brewery.
The goalkeeper Loes Geurts has won 94 caps for the Netherlands, while the forwards Marion Melis and Lieke Martens are, along with the outstanding 18 year old Vivianne Miedema, the main attacking threats to Scotland over the two legs.
"Melis and Martens are both very talented players - we saw that when we played Holland in the Cyprus Cup in March - as is the goalkeeper," Ross said.
Scotland's own offensive play largely revolves round Ross, Little and Potsdam's Lisa Evans. The latter is back in the Scotland squad having missing the Faroes and Sweden games with shin splints and Ross said: "It's great that she is available again. She scored three goals last time we played Holland and I definitely enjoy playing with her."
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