Kim Little and her Scotland team-mates are ready to use past disappointments as motivation against the Netherlands at Tynecastle tomorrow…
Scotland star Kim Little is hoping to make it third time lucky as her team step into their World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final against the Netherlands.
The Scots have never reached the finals of a major tournament and missed out in the play-offs in both of their last two European Championship campaigns.
They were cruelly denied a place at Euro 2013, Spain knocking them out with a goal in stoppage time of extra time of their play-off final.
But as they prepare for Saturday’s play-off semi-final first leg at Tynecastle they are determined to make next year’s finals in Canada, says Little.
“Missing out on Euro 2013 was devastating,” said ex-Arsenal playmaker Little, now starring for Seattle Reign in America’s professional league.
“But we’re using that experience as motivation this time, and if we can get to the finals it will be a massive boost for the women’s game in Scotland.”
The Netherlands are six places higher than Scotland at 15th in the world rankings, but the Scots have beaten them in each of their last three meetings.
“They’ll be favourites in spite of our recent record against them,” added Little, “but we’ve shown we can compete successfully against higher ranked teams.
“We drew with (fourth in the world) France and beat Australia (10th) as well as the Netherlands at this year’s Cyprus Cup, so we know our capabilities.
“We’ll be aiming to make a strong start at Tynecastle on Saturday, and if we can get a good result in this first leg we’ll be confident of going through.”
The second leg of the semi takes place in Rotterdam next Thursday, with the winners then meeting either Italy or Ukraine in next month’s play-off final.
FIFA Women’s World Cup play-off semi-final first leg
Scotland vs Netherlands
Saturday 25th October 2014, 5:30pm kick-off
Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
Tickets available on the gate, priced £5/£2
Youth Group Offer, available in advance: Five adult and 20 kids tickets for £30
Can’t make it to Edinburgh? WATCH IT LIVE ON BBC ALBA. CLICK HERE.
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