Page 3 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.1 2022-23

Scotland and Wales will play at home to Austria and Bosnia & Herzegovina respectively for
the first round of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup European Play-offs.
Pedro Martinez Losa’s side rounded off their qualification campaign with a six-goal
victory in the Faroe Islands earlier this week having already secured a Play-off spot and will
now face the Austrians on 6th October at Hampden Park.
Should Scotland progress past the Austrians they would face the Republic of Ireland
in the Play-off Final, with the match again to be played at Hampden Park on 11th October.
Meanwhile, Gemma Grainger’s side will face Bosnia & Herzegovina in the First
Round on Thursday 6th October at the Cardiff City Stadium (7.15pm). Should Wales win
the match, they will then face Switzerland on Tuesday 11th October (venue & KO time TBC).
SWNT Head Coach Pedro Martinez Losa told www.scottishfa.co.uk: "Firstly, we’re
very pleased at having the potential opportunity to play two home games. We are pleased
that the fans will be there – we will need their support against these difficult opponents.
"They are two strong opponents. Austria have shown experience and competitiveness
tournament after tournament. They did very well in the last EUROs, but we will be ready to
compete against them. The second game against the Republic of Ireland, with the
traditional rivalry between the two teams, these are the sort of games you want to be
involved in as a player.
"Austria have a lot of experienced players, with many of them playing in Germany.
Their captain has played at Bayern Munich for many years, their goalkeeper is playing at a
very high level with Arsenal and their striker, Nicole Billa, has a very good goalscoring
record at international level. They have done very well in the last European tournaments,
not only qualifying but also going to the quarter finals this year.”
“We see it as a favourable draw for a number of reasons really,” Gemma Grainger
explained to faw.cymru. “The home draw was the best possible draw that we could have
had. We always want to play at home, especially after the Slovenia game with the crowd
there and we want to make sure that we build on that.
“Bosnia, being the lowest-ranked team, provides its own challenges. I can see why
drawing the lowest-ranked team can be seen as a competitive advantage, but actually they
will provide us with difficult opposition for different reasons.”

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