ANYBODY who witnessed Scotland's wretched first-half performance against the Netherlands at Tynecastle on Saturday would be entitled to believe there is more chance of Tony Blair and George W Bush being led in handcuffs to the International Criminal Court in The Hague than there is of Anna Signeul's side salvaging their Women's World Cup semi-final play-off tonight.
The Scots are based in the Dutch city, but will make the short trip south-west to Rotterdam's Sparta Stadion in search of redemption. That they have just a 2-1 deficit to overcome is a source of significant encouragement; the Dutch could yet rue the failure to make the most of their early superiority in Edinburgh.
Roger Reijners' side remain the overwhelming favourites to meet Italy, who defeated Ukraine 4-3 on aggregate yesterday, in next month's play-off final, with the winners taking the last Uefa place in Canada next summer. The Dutch have a fine midfield and attack, but tonight Signeul wants to put much more pressure on a back four which, other than at set pieces, was not tested at Tynecastle.
"We need to go in to the game without fear and be much more physical as a unit," the Swede said. "In a way the pressure is off us because most people will expect Holland to win the tie now."
Her Scotland players need to step up to the mark on Sparta's high-tech artificial surface because, for all the talk about avenging the European Championship play-off defeats against Russia and Spain, the desire to make it third time lucky in their first-ever World Cup play-off was not all that evident at Tynecastle. Rangers' experienced midfielder Megan Sneddon could come back into contention, but left-back Hayley Lauder, who was carrying a calf injury going into the first leg and had to be replaced early on by Emma Mitchell, will not play.
The spirit Scotland need tonight is exemplified by midfielder Rachel Corsie. The 25-year-old broke her nose in a collision with Anouk Dekker just minutes into the game at Tynecastle and was off the field receiving treatment when the visitors scored their first goal.
Corsie completed the game and will start again tonight, shunning any thought of a protective mask. "If I had one and the ball hit me in the face it would still be sore," said the player, who is a central defender at club level. "My dad says the broken nose is an incentive to make sure I get my forehead on every high ball."
Another key player going into the second leg in less than ideal shape is Ifeoma Dieke. The 33-year-old has not trained all week but will win her 100th cap and partner Jenny Beattie at the back, provided her head cold does not deteriorate in the hours before the match.
Dieke has yet to score a goal for Scotland in any her 99 international games, but is not bothered about that record should she, as expected, start tonight. "I'll leave Kim Little and Jane Ross to get the goals - my job is to stop them going in at the other end," said Dieke, who was born in Massachusetts to Nigerian parents but brought up in Cumbernauld.
"When I got my first cap in Ukraine back in 2004 I never expected to reach 100 caps. That was again the case when I badly injured my knee in the London Olympics two years ago and I've cherished every game I've played for Scotland."
To have any chance of victory tonight, full-backs Frankie Brown and Mitchell will have to keep Manon Melis and Lieke Martens under a much tighter rein than they did at Tynecastle. Losing one goal would not be disastrous for Scotland, as they have to score twice anyway to have any chance of keeping the World Cup dream alive, but any more would make qualifying a very difficult proposition.
At some point Signeul's side, who will also hope to make much better use of Lisa Evans' pace, are likely to have to take risks to score the goals they need. They have the players to open up the Dutch defence, but the real question is whether they can stifle the hosts' own potent attacking threat successfully.
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