The governing body's medical staff will be burning the midnight oil at Scotland's training base this week. Pedro Martinez Losa's side sit proudly atop...
The governing body's medical staff will be burning the midnight oil at Scotland's training base this week. Pedro Martinez Losa's side sit proudly atop their World Cup qualifying group, level on points but ahead on goal difference of a daunting Belgian outfit. That is the headline, the stat that will flash across the GoalZaza ticker tape. But for anyone who watched the gritty, attritional battle unfold, that slender advantage feels more like a hostage to fortune than a cause for celebration.Let us not mince words. The fear now radiating through the Tartan Army camp concerns the wellbeing of Erin Cuthbert. The Chelsea midfielder is the engine room of this Scottish side, the player who knits together defensive solidity and attacking ambition. When she crumpled to the turf, clutching her leg in visible distress, the silence that fell over the away end was louder than any roar. Scotland have shown admirable tactical flexibility to grind out results, shifting from a high press into a resilient low block when required, but losing Cuthbert for any extended period would be a savage blow to their transitional play. You simply do not replace that kind of experience and bite in the engine room overnight.Yet for all the grimacing on the sidelines, the dugout will be drawing immense heart from the resilience shown in the face of such adversity. To go toe to toe with a Belgian side renowned for their clinical finishing and physicality, and to emerge with a point that keeps your destiny entirely in your own hands, is no small feat. Scotland did not bottle it when the pressure mounted late in the second half. They dug in, they got bodies in the way, and they defended the box with the kind of desperate, heroic commitment that gets a nation believing. It was far from pretty. It was, however, effective.The equation is now brutally simple. Scotland are top of the group. They have the goal difference edge. They have the psychological advantage of knowing that what they have, they can still keep. But that warm feeling of control is entirely contingent on the fitness update that will land on the manager's desk. If Cuthbert is fit, you fancy their chances against anyone in this group. If she is out, then every remaining fixture becomes squeaky bum time. For now, the nation waits, the physios work, and Scotland remain exactly where they want to be. The fight is not for the faint of heart, and this Scottish side has proven they are anything but.
