Andreatta urges Scots to keep ‘faith’ as youths emerge

Women’s Nations League: Scotland vs. Netherlands

Kick-off time: Tuesday, 3 June, 1:10 p.m. BST

As she considers making changes for her second game as head coach, Melissa Andreatta claims Scotland’s young teenagers showed “a real maturity” when they started playing as substitutes against Austria on Friday.

The Scots, who have already been relegated, will now face their final Nations League Group A1 game in the Netherlands with a victory at Hampden.

However, the former Australia assistant has urged her team to maintain their “faith” and that they are “very hungry and determined to put in their best performance for this match to close this campaign in a positive way.”

Andreatta responded, “I think what they showed was a real maturity and able to manage the moment, and they thrived.

We could see a change in the second half, and I think it was just because they had more faith in that and the ability to play and choose different situations.

“I think what we saw were players coming off the bench, both freshmen and experienced players,” said the coach. “I think that’s fantastic for the team and those individual players.”

As her side prepares for “a massive test” against a team ranked 10th in the world and looking to bounce back from their own 4-0 defeat in Germany, Andreatta is determined to see the positives of the defeat.

There will be times in the match when things don’t go right, but that’s where we’re at right now, she said. “We just need to keep going this way,” she said.

We drew many lessons from it, and what we now want to do is close this campaign and then anticipate a fresh beginning in our next camp afterward.

Scotland have lost all five of their matches so far in the Nations League top flight, but Lineth Beerensteyn and Chasity Grant scored the Dutch’s winning goal at Hampden in February despite Emma Lawton’s goal extending the lead.

After Pedro Martinez Losa was fired following her unsuccessful attempt to reach this summer’s Euro 2025 finals, Andreatta believes she has already seen areas where the squad could improve.