FAMILIARITY will be in the air when Scotland play Iceland tomorrow even if the venue, in Parchal, is new. The nations met in La Manga six weeks ago, and before that twice in Euro 2017 qualifying.
This latest fixture will be the final Group A game in the Algarve Cup. Both sides have already played Canada, with Iceland eking out a 0-0 draw against the tournament top seeds while Scotland were denied that outcome by Christine Sinclair's converted penalty eight minutes from time.
It was, nevertheless, a largely encouraging Scotland performance on Friday. Goalkeeper Lee Alexander had a fine game, making good saves from Jordyn Huitema and Kadeisha Buchanan while, in front of her, Rachel Corsie and Jen Beattie contained Sinclair well. The prolific Canadian striker moved to within five of Abby Wambach's all-time international goalscoring record of 184 thanks to the penalty, but it could have been four had Corsie not got a vital nudge as she was about to shoot when through on Alexander.
“Chloe [Arthur] probably didn't need to make the challenge for the penalty, which was a shame because I thought she had a really good game.” head coach Shelley Kerr said. “But you get mentally drained in games of that magnitude and sometimes that happens.”
With Sophie Howard and Emma Mitchell still not available, tomorrow's encounter and the placings match on Wednesday provide further opportunities to look at the full-back positions. Glasgow City's Nicola Docherty barely figured in Kerr's squads until the start of this year but, like Arthur, performed well against Canada and is one of the few full-back candidates who actually plays in that position for her club.
Further forward, Rosengard's Fiona Brown must be a strong candidate to return against Iceland, having not featured at all against Canada. She is part of a multi-nation squad in Sweden, including Iceland's Glodis Perla Viggosdottir.
The defender won't be at the World Cup as Iceland failed to capitalise on a promising qualifying group position. “It's a bit of a touchy subject, as it is with the Danish players at the club, but for once I'm not on that side of it so I'm enjoying it,” Brown joked.
Iceland won an unsatisfactory game in La Manga 2-1, but with a competitive edge this time and a stronger team, Scotland have a good chance to end what is now a four-match losing run.
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