Women’s World Cup: Target remains the same for Lisa Evans

Even though they have nothing tangible to show for their Women’s World Cup campaign so far, Scotland’s goalposts have not shifted, according to Lisa Evans.
Lisa Evans is determined to claim three points against ArgentinaLisa Evans is determined to claim three points against Argentina
Lisa Evans is determined to claim three points against Argentina

Shelley Kerr’s troops suffered a second 2-1 defeat in a row as they were beaten by Japan at Roazhon Park in Rennes, teeing up a tense Group D finale against Argentina on Wednesday.

Victory in their last group-stage match could yet prove enough to take Scotland into the Round of 16 in an historic first World Cup tilt and for winger Evans, the more things change, the more her mindset remains the same.

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“Before we came to this tournament, we said that we wanted to win at least one game,” said Evans.

“That’s still there. We need to focus everything into that last game, the Argentina game, try to take the positives from this game and put three points on the board.”

Mana Iwabuchi and Yuika Sugasawa both scored as Japan dominated the first half in Rennes but Kerr’s side fought back against talented opposition, with Lana Clelland’s scorcher making things interesting late on. Fiorentina striker Clelland bagged her fourth international goal – her country’s second at a World Cup following Claire Emslie’s strike against England – adding an undoubted silver lining to proceedings.

Having produced a pair of fine second-half displays, the task now is for Scotland to construct a full 90-minute performance when they take on Argentina.

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“I’m delighted to get on the scoresheet in my first start in the World Cup but I’m obviously disappointed with the result,” said 26-year-old Clelland. “We’ll look at the second-half performance again; we need to take that into the next game because we need three points.

“We need to be more positive. We did that much better in the second half but I’m still disappointed with the result.

“Credit to Japan – we knew they were a world-class team and they’ve showed that on many occasions on the world stage.

“We need to go again in the next game.

“We need to take this performance, look at the errors we made, and take it into the next game for sure.”

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• SSE, the energy behind Scottish women’s and girls’ football. Official partner of the Scotland Women’s International team and proud sponsor of the SSE Soccer Centres and the SSE Scottish Women’s Cup.