Bayern Munich’s Sam Kerr has been named in Scotland’s squad to face Belgium and England in the Nations League.
The 24-year-old midfielder has recovered from a knee injury that forced her to miss the Netherlands double-header in October.
Rangers’ Brogan Hay, Abi Harrison of Bristol City and London City Lionesses’ Emma Mukandi have also been picked by boss Pedro Martinez Losa. However, Rangers’ Kathryn Hill and Kirsty Howat, plus Celtic’s Jenny Smith drop out from the last squad.
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Scotland travel to face Belgium on December 1 before facing England at Hampden Park four days later as they look to move off bottom spot in Group A1.
Martinez Losa: Scotland must focus fully on Belgium
Martinez Losa insisted Scotland must keep their focus fully on their upcoming Nations League match away to Belgium before allowing their attention to turn to England.
The Scots have taken just one point from their four matches so far and finish up with a formidable double-header, with next Friday’s clash in Leuven followed by a mouth-watering Hampden showdown with the Auld Enemy four days later.
Martinez Losa is adamant that Scotland must not allow the excitement of hosting England to distract them in the build-up to their Belgian assignment.
“One of the dangerous things when we play against England is that we are all so excited and we have that desire to compete,” said the Scotland manager.
“But we have to go one game at a time. We have to make sure we are focused on Belgium. We know we can beat Belgium but we know they are a very tactical team and they have the confidence of qualifying for tournaments and competing at the highest level.
“After the challenge of Belgium, we have the special scenario of playing against England at Hampden.
“We will have the crowd and the support of the fans and that has been a plus for all the teams across the Nations League, like when we played against England (in Sunderland) with 50,000 people and when we played the Netherlands at a sold-out stadium (in Nijmegen).”
What is at stake in the group?
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Pedro Martinez Losa’s side are bottom of the group after four games
Martinez Losa’s side – who lost both games against the Netherlands last month – got their only point of the campaign against Belgium thanks to Sophie Howard’s late equaliser, days after a controversial defeat away to England.
While Scotland are on the brink of relegation, Belgium could yet top the group as they bid to catch the Netherlands who are two points clear.
England must win both games to have any chance of progressing, whilst needing other results to go their way too.
They will need to top the group to go through to the Nations League semi-finals – meanwhile – to guarantee to make it through to next year’s Olympic Games, they will have to go through to the final of the Nations League.
Martinez Losa hopes for big Hampden crowd
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Sophie Howard’s 94th-minute header secured a point for Scotland against Belgium
Having experienced big atmospheres in their most recent away matches, Martinez Losa would love to see a big crowd at Hampden for the England match as the Scots bid to avenge their narrow 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light in September.
“We want to create that environment with our fans so that they connect with the team and feel proud,” he said. “For our players, the support of the fans is probably the biggest motivation. And on the other side, we will be competing against a team like England who will probably need to qualify.
“It will be an additional pressure for both teams. Hopefully we are still alive in the competition and I’m pretty sure we can cause England some difficulties. I think we broke the barrier of confidence in our mindset with that second half against England.
“The players will still have it in their heads and they know we can still do it better. They left the pitch frustrated because they felt they could get more from the game.
“It would be fantastic to beat England but our objective is to qualify for the Euros.”
Scotland squad
Goalkeepers: Jenna Fife, Lee Gibson, Sandy MacIver
Defenders: Jenna Clark, Rachel Corsie, Nicola Docherty, Sophie Howard, Rachel McLauchlan, Emma Mukandi
Midfielders: Fiona Brown, Erin Cuthbert, Lisa Evans, Christy Grimshaw, Sam Kerr, Kirsty MacLean, Jamie-Lee Napier, Amy Rodgers
Strikers: Lauren Davidson, Claire Emslie, Amy Gallacher, Kirsty Hanson, Abi Harrison, Brogan Hay, Martha Thomas
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