Wiegman: Scotland WON’T let us win

SARINA WIeGMAN insists there is no chance of Scotland giving england an easy ride in their final Nations league group game tonight — despite a big win for her lionesses being arguably the best outcome for both sides. england are striving to secure Team GB’s place at next year’s Paris Olympics, but in order to do so they must finish top of their group and then win a one-legged semi-final at February’s Finals. The lionesses are level on points with the Netherlands after Friday’s 3-2 win at Wembley but are three goals worse off on goal difference, meaning they must beat Scotland by a big margin — or win and hope the dutch do not beat Belgium. Scottish players could benefit from england winning the group because a Team GB squad, if they qualify, would be made up of players from the four home nations. Netherlands boss Andries Jonker questioned the integrity of the Nations league due to this conflict of interest and argued it should ‘not be possible’ for england and Scotland to be drawn in the same group. But Wiegman is adamant the Scots will do everything they can to prevent the lionesses from winning at Hampden Park. The england manager said: ‘I understand the conversations about it, but if you have seen our group and if you have seen Scotland and if you know the history of Scotland and england, then there is no way they are going to give away this game. They really want to beat england. There’s such a rivalry that that’s absolutely not going to be the case.

‘There is not an easy solution and it’s just about fair play. In football everyone wants to win and we know the rivalry between Scotland and england. So that’s just the way it is.’

Scotland captain Rachel Corsie blasted suggestions her side would not play to win, saying: ‘It’s so disrespectful. It’s absolutely outrageous to question anyone’s integrity. It’s a huge insult to us.’ Wiegman admitted her team will have to be all-out attack from the first whistle to give themselves the best chance of topping the group. She added: ‘I hope the players go wild from the first minute but you don’t want to get erratic. We want to be controlled, but we really want to play our best game and create chances and get a lot of players up front.’

Only the two teams who make the Nations league final will qualify for the Olympics. If France — who are already qualified as hosts — make the final, the winner of the third-place play-off would take the other spot on offer.