Scotland strike late to avoid Women's World Cup speed bump in the capital
Scotland bag injury time level at Easter Road.
Scotland bagged a dramatic injury-time goal to draw 1-1 with Belgium at Easter Road and keep themselves top of Group B4 in the quest to reach next year’s World Cup.
Ahead of the game, head coach Melissa Andreatta had insisted she was “500 per cent confident” that her Scotland squad would end their eight-year major tournament drought by qualifying for the 2027 finals in Brazil, but she looked set to suffer their first defeat in the qualifying campaign after Sari Kees’ 15th-minute opener for Belgium, only for Kathleen McGovern to strike deep in stoppage time.
While a convoluted qualification system means she still has some way to go to proven right - or indeed wrong - Andreatta will be delighted with her side’s endeavour. The Scots kept going until the dying stages of the match despite struggling to create too many clear cut opportunities.
Succeeding Pedro Martinez Losa almost exactly a year ago today, the women’s national team have been trending upwards under Andreatta’s tutelage, losing just two of her opening eight games. It is in contrast to their much-maligned former boss, who was ushered out the door following the meek defeat to Finland in the final of the Euro 2025 play-offs.
Celtic’s Emma Lawton, Liverpool’s Kirsty MacLean and Newcastle United’s Freya Gregory were all handed recalls to the Scotland starting XI, while Rangers’ Nicola Docherty retained her place ahead of Glasgow City’s fit-again Amy Muir in defence. Caroline Weir wore the captain’s armband.
It was the home side who started the brightest, with Weir’s trickery in the opening few minutes forcing a corner. Nicky Evrard in the Belgian goal flapped at the resulting set-piece, but MacLean was unable to stab home as Elisabet Gunnarsdottir’s side hacked clear to safety.
Just 10 minutes later, though, the visitors opened the scoring through a corner of their own. Finding herself in far too much space in the area, Leicester City defender Kees was able to take a touch and poke the ball beyond Sandy MacIver to give Belgium an early lead against the run of play.
The hosts reacted well, though, as Lawton’s lung-bursting run down the right allowed her to feed perfectly into the path of Erin Cuthbert. However, she could not sort her feet out quickly enough to fire her side level from inside the area.
Miri Taylor was the next to take aim at Evrard. Her deflected drive from the outside of the area almost sneaked beyond the PSV Eindhoven stopper into her top right-hand corner as the home side started to dictate proceedings.
Brann’s free-scoring forward Lauren Davidson was introduced with half an hour to play and injected pace and power in Scotland’s play. Weir came close with a long-range effort with 15 minutes to go before McGovern - who plays her club football for Hibs - stabbed the ball past Evrard to score on home soil and grab Scotland a point.
Starting the campaign with 5-0 and 7-0 wins over Luxembourg last month, Belgium were always viewed as Scotland’s most difficult from Group B4, which also includes Israel. Despite being seven places above them in the FIFA World Rankings table, Scotland were arguably the better of two teams, and may even leave the capital with a degree of regret that didn’t take all three points.
The first phase of qualifying that they must navigate in their quest to make the tournament, Scotland remain top of the group on goal different with seven points. Unable to qualify for the World Cup automatically via the group stage due to their relegation from Women’s Nations League A last year, Scotland have been placed in the second tier of qualifying, meaning they will be forced to pass through two further playoffs in order to seal their spot.
While a first-round playoff spot remains likely and can be sealed by finishing in any of the top three positions, the difficulty of their opponents will depend on where they finish in Group B4. Finish top and Scotland face a side that finishes as runners-up or third place in another League B section in the playoffs.
However, finish second or third, they would, in theory, face a tougher task to qualify via the playoffs, with Scotland then tasked with playing against a nation that finished fourth in a League A group, or potentially a Group B winner.
The two sides will compete again in the return clash this Saturday. Kick-off against Belgium is scheduled for 7.30pm in Leuven.
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