Scotland manager Pedro Martinez Losa refused to discuss his long-term future after his side failed to make it to the next summer’s Euros.
The dream died in Helsinki after a 2-0 defeat to Finland. First-half goals from Natalia Kuikka and Nea Lehtola were the cue for celebrations from the Finns while there were only tears from the Scotland players. It is now three successive major tournaments that Scotland have failed to make, with Martinez Losa in charge for two of them.
He was given a four-year contract extension last September despite failure to get past the Republic of Ireland and make it to the FIFA Women’s World Cup. “It’s not for me to say if I am the right man or not [to lead Scotland],” he said. “What I see is the behaviour of the players, the evolution of the team and there is an opportunity to lead by example, an opportunity to inspire everybody in this moment and that’s what we’ll do.”
The Spaniard also insisted that Scotland ought to have had a spot-kick within the game as he argued that the failure to give it was behind the eventual outcome. It was a strong shout after Erin Cuthbert’s shot from just inside the box looked to be beaten away by Ria Oling.
Appeals for the spot-kick right before the break were batted away with referee Ewa Augustyn not even tempting to take a look at the VAR monitor. It incensed Martinez Losa and Leanne Ross during the game while the players, too, were furious. He said: “They have a good record of winning games here and two big moments in the game cost us.
“I thought after that the team played excellently. If you score a goal all of a sudden it can change. I respect the referee and the VAR but I think we should have had a penalty. I think one goal would have changed the game.”
Scotland had chances within the game but could not take them. They had much of the ball, dominating possession at times, but struggled to offer any real menace in the final third.
Finland had come out of the traps flying, forcing Eartha Cumings into a save inside the opening minute before then hitting the crossbar. It was no real surprise that they opened the scoring after just eight minutes.
Kuikka let fly with an effort from the edge of the box with her effort beating Cumings who could have done better with the effort from distance. Scotland steadied and went on to enjoy ample possession but the issue is that despite enjoying a lot of the ball they were unable to offer much in the way of a threat.
Caroline Weir’s free-kick fell to Sophie Howard at the back post but Finland were able to scramble the ball clear. As Scotland looked to try and forced their way back into the game, Finland dealt them a sucker punch.
Lehtola’s effort seemed to take a deflection off of Howard to wrongfoot Cumings and leave Scotland with the proverbial mountain to climb. They never looked in any real danger of scaling it.
Captain Weir insisted she was ‘proud’ of the players despite the failure to make the Euros. “It is hard to digest at the moment,” she said. “We wanted it really badly but unfortunately it wasn’t our night.
“The team has worked so hard in the last few years to be in this position and then unfortunately we couldn’t take that final step. The players gave everything.
“I am proud of the team and the staff. There is not much more we could have done.”
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