How Scotland boss Pedro Martinez Losa has "inspired" Boroughmuir Thistle Under-18s

Scotland head coach Pedro Martinez Losa’s visit to Boroughmuir Thistle under-18s has been inspirational, according to the Edinburgh team’s head coach Cliff Barraclough.

The visit is one of the organised events organised between the Scottish FA and their partner Shoosmiths as part of their sponsorship deal. The 46-year-old former Arsenal and Bordeaux boss, appointed head coach of Scotland in July 2021, travelled to Edinburgh to participate in a Q&A with the upcoming stars alongside leading a pitch session. Barraclough believes he can already see improvements in his players after the event.

“It has given them as real boost and a lot of enthusiasm at the following training sessions”, he told Edinburgh Evening News. “They try maybe a little bit harder now and are a little bit more focused. We got a slightly higher attendance at our following sessions as well. It did inspire and we definitely saw a rise in their enthusiasm straight after.

“A lot of the questions he was asked consisted of how do I improve or how do I make it as a professional football or make it to international level. He gave lots of good advice about attitude, psychology, nutrition, strength and conditioning. So he gave them a lot of insight into how an international player prepares and the type of things they’d have to focus on.”

With the international break now underway, Scotland will face Panama on Saturday followed by Venezuela on Monday as they hope to bounce back from their failure to qualify for the 2023 World Cup. Boroughmuir, one of the biggest female-only football in Scotland, have many young players who will be hoping to become internationals themselves one day.

“I thought the experience was very inspirational”, Barraclough added. “He gave up an awful lot of his time. I wasn’t expecting him to put so much thought and effort into his answers. The girls were really excited, I don’t think they could believe he was coming to see them. They had all been to numerous Scotland international games. They all knew who he was. They were very switched on and they were all very excited that he came to see them.”