An unimaginable scenario played out on Friday night at Wembley. England still won 3-2 against the Netherlands in extra time, after the score was 0-2. But after that, the issue was no longer about the change in direction, but about the relationship between Scotland and England.
What is it like? The final and decisive UEFA Nations League group stage will conclude on Tuesday evening. The Dutch team will play against Belgium in Tilburg at 20:45. Scotland host England at the same time, at Hampden Park in Glasgow. Both national team coaches Andries Jonker with the Netherlands and Sarina Wiegman with England have both collected 9 points after five matches, with equal results.
The goal difference for Dutch footballers is +4, compared to +1 for England. The group winners will advance to the final round of the Nations League, where two tickets to the 2024 Olympics in Paris can be obtained.
If the Netherlands beats Belgium, England will have to score a lot of goals to win the group. The vice world champions will play Scotland, who, like England, are part of ‘Team Great Britain’, if the Games go ahead. In this case, Wiegman acts as national coach and can call on players from both countries, as well as from Wales and Northern Ireland.
Logically, the lion’s share will come from a strong England selection, but Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert is an example of a player who more or less played against herself on Tuesday. He will benefit if England win the group and eventually reach the Olympics, as he will likely participate himself. Jonker: “That’s completely untrue.”
The first fault lies with UEFA, which did not block a division with England and Scotland in the same Nations League group. Jonker commented on this some time ago. A contemporary version of Spain – Malta (12-1), which saw the Netherlands lose in the 1984 European Championship, is on the way, say the cynical Dutch.
Scotland has been relegated
Additionally, Scotland have been relegated from the A division of the Nations League and are therefore no longer playing for anything. Or is it? Are honor and dignity also a factor in this whole thing? It’s surprising how this questionable scenario wasn’t necessarily a theme in the English news, following the game at Wembley.
There is no agreement at all on the other side of the North Sea, although British media have published stories about the crucial situation in recent days.
In the previous Nations League match between the two teams, the Scottish women’s team performed well against England, but lost 2-1. There are now voices from Scotland about a desire to rehab after a mediocre Nations League campaign, against a nation that is a great rival from a historical perspective.
And yes, players like Cuthbert find themselves in strange situations, but he is an exception. Most of Scotland’s selected athletes are completely unprepared for the Olympics and want to beat England as much as the Dutch want to beat, say, Germany.
Jonker and Wiegman discussed the rivalry between the two countries from England on Friday evening. “The relationship between Scotland and England is such that Scotland would really fight for it. They cannot be swept away. This is not possible in relations between countries; it is not accepted. “I think Scotland has a moral obligation to defend themselves to the best of their ability, even if the situation is completely wrong,” Jonker said. Wiegman: “The competition is huge. Scotland will not give anything away.”
Either way, it’s going to be a strange night of football on Tuesday, providing fodder for previous conspiracy theorists. Suppose England were already 0-2 up after fifteen minutes? How ‘suspicious’ is this, considering the difference in quality between the two countries? The Netherlands can only hope that Scotland defends itself bravely and must not forget to win – preferably by a big margin – against Belgium.
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