Jo Love confident Scotland can upset odds against England

Scotland midfielder Jo Love has emphasised the match against England will not define their Women’s World Cup campaign.
Scotland's Jo Love. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNSScotland's Jo Love. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS
Scotland's Jo Love. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS

Shelley Kerr’s team, who are playing at a finals of the competition for the first time, get things under way by facing the Auld Enemy in Nice tomorrow. The sides are joined in Group D by Japan and 
Argentina.

Love, the most capped player in Scotland’s squad with 191 appearances, said: “We know the capabilities of this squad. It will depend how we play on the day, but we’re looking to go and get a positive result from the game.

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“Whether it’s a shock will be up to everyone else to decide, but we’ve certainly got the talent to cause England problems and we’ll be looking to shut them out.

“Every point is going to help us on the way to get out of the group, so if we get anything from the game, then all good and well. But this game is not going to define the tournament that we have.”

Scotland are ranked 20th in the world, while England are third, and the last meeting was a 6-0 win for the latter at Euro 2017.

Love, pictured, added: “We don’t have anything to lose. England will probably be feeling the pressure given the fact they are favourites and probably favourites to go on and do really well in the overall competition.

“We are just going to go in, give it our all and see what result we can get.

“We are here to have a good tournament, try to get some positive results and hopefully get ourselves out of the group.”

Unlike for the last meeting, Scotland have Arsenal pair Kim Little and Jen Beattie – two more players with more than a century of caps – fit. Among the other key players in the squad are 20-year-old Chelsea forward Erin Cuthbert and 23-year-old Manchester City midfielder Caroline Weir.

Love, 33, who plays for Glasgow City, said: “It’s not an occasion I think any of us will ever have experienced. It’s going to be something completely new.

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“But we just have to focus on the task at hand. We’ve obviously played against England in the past and we’re well-rehearsed in what we do and how well we’re going to do it.

“When you talk about younger players, you’re talking about the likes of Erin Cuthbert and Caroline Weir, and they have probably played in bigger games than me in their career. So it’s not something that I think is going to faze 
the girls.”

Kerr – who succeeded Anna Signeul after Euro 2017 – has been awarded an MBE for services to football in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. A victory in Nice tomorrow would be an even greater honour for the Scotland head coach.