Living red flames. Scotland gives the Belgians hope with a goal to win the group: “Our goal is to beat England” | Women’s football

If England reach the Final Four, they will go to the Olympics with Scotland. Will Scottish women give it their all? “The competition is huge,” they promise.

Belgium can top the group and qualify for the final four by defeating the Netherlands in Tilburg, while Scotland can defeat England in Glasgow. Netherlands and England have the same number of points if they win and then goal difference makes the difference. The Netherlands is currently ranked +4 and England at +1. So, in addition to winning, England also have to score a lot of goals.

Scotland are in the same qualifying group as England, and if the Lionesses reach the Final Four, they will go to the Olympics together as Team GB. It creates a conflict of interest and certainly deserves a few lines in UEFA’s book of blunders. A directed tow would have avoided the trouble. England cannot be placed in the same group as Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales.

In England they talk about a special situation. With the Orange Lionesses and the Red Flames, it looks so good in unison that they should be busy with their own match and not the England-Scotland match.

“We’re keen to beat England,” Scotland’s Hayley Loader – who has played 104 international matches – said on Friday in Leuven on the BBC. As Scots, we have a lot of pride. “Hopefully we can deliver a match that reflects that.” Other voices from the Scottish camp say they will not miss that match against England. “We’re not interested in the whole GB team. This is England, not Scotland. I don’t know if you can find players among us who can make you excited about being at the Games because the GB team should also include a few Scottish women. The rivalry is huge. Beating on “England would be great.”

genuinely? Anyway, it seemed convincing. Which Belgian players would excite you to play for the Netherlands or France in Paris 2024? To train there and sit on the couch. The idea is ridiculous, but the comparison is reasonable.

Meanwhile in the Belgian camp. “We have to play our game and win,” says Justine VanHivermaite. “So we have to be much better than we were against Scotland,” adds Tessa Woollaert. In the Netherlands there is no excitement about this situation. “Immediately after the draw was made I told the players: We can only make sure that we control ourselves,” national team coach Juncker said before the final day of the match. “It was annoying, but it won’t change.”

If England are going to score a lot against Scotland, the Netherlands will want to score a lot against Belgium. (Dr)

Tomorrow is D-Day for the Red Flames. On the final day of the UEFA Nations League, the Belgian women’s footballers can still secure a group win, but then they have to beat the Netherlands themselves and hope England don’t beat Scotland.

1. Netherlands – 9
2. England – 9
3. Belgium – 8
4. Scotland – 2