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Lisa Evans may well have been chuckling in her Rennes hotel yesterday as she looked in turn out the window and at the television where Chile were playing Sweden.
72 minutes into the second half, a downpour that would not have been out of place in Greenock or Fort William, forced Mexican referee Lucila Venegas to take the players off the pitch as lightening struck.
She was the first Scottish player to face the media after her side’s 2-1 loss to England in the opening day of the World Cup.
After playing in the humidity of Nice, she was looking forward to the side’s next game against Japan , and said:
“It was a hard shift and hopefully it won’t be as hot in Rennes. We were too far off England with our press and the climate didn’t make it any easier.
“A Scottish climate should help us!”
The climate does not get more Scottish than a thunderstorm and Evans may wish – or may not – that she had been careful what she wished for!
Scotland played disappointingly in the first half, it being generally acknowledged by Erin Cuthbert, as well as Evans, that they showed the 2015 semi-finalists too much respect:
“We showed them too much respect at times. We started the game too deep and we weren’t getting enough pressure on them. We are obviously disappointed to come away with nothing. But we can definitely take positives from that second half performance.
“In the second half we turned the game around by scoring our first goal and I thought we were capable of going on and getting an equaliser.”
Looking forward to the game, she eschewed any notion that Scotland were purely focusing on the Argentina game, a plan more than justified by Las Albicelestes holding the Japanese to a 0-0 draw.
“We’re not just looking at the last game against Argentina as the one to target. We want to win every game.
“Japan are another top nation so it will be a tough ask again. We know what they are all about.
“They’re a great team and we have a lot of respect for them but we want to win and get the three points.”
Admitting that scoring their first World Cup finals goal, even in a losing effort would give Scotland a psychological boost:
“In the end it hasn’t counted for anything but we need to score goals to win games. It’s obviously a positive that we’ve scored our first goal and we’ll look to fix the things that weren’t so good.”
Scotland face Japan at 14.00 BST on June 14th.
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Sports Minister Joe Fitzpatrick writes for Prost
Scotland fans gather in Nice two days before opener – gallery
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