Excitement is building as Shelley Kerr’s Scotland team get ready for their Women’s World Cup debut next Sunday.
First of all, to get to two major tournaments as the squad have deserves major plaudits.
The game has progressed massively in Scotland as a result of the upcoming World Cup and Euros two years ago.
Their qualification for France went right to the wire away in Albania and they had to show quality, resilience and desire in equal measure to bag their place.
Kerr’s team are in a group with England, Japan and Argentina – playing their rivals in that order – and it looks like three points might be enough to get them into the knockouts, while four almost certainly would.
Argentina is probably the must-win game, however should Scotland – featuring north-east talent in the form of Aberdeen’s Rachel Corsie and Mintlaw’s Kim Little – take something off of England in Sunday’s meeting, it would be huge.
This kind of start would ignite interest in the World Cup across the country and – if that happens – who knows how far Scotland could go.
Kerr has a squad full of top club talent and, like I’ve said elsewhere, this will give the team real belief they can make their mark in France.