Scotland drew 0-0 against Finland in the first leg of the final round for the WEURO 2025 qualification on home ground. Caroline Weir's Scotland lost in the second leg and will not be going to the next summer's tournament. Here is how the match went.
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Scotland XI
Finland XI
Substitutes
Real Madrid's midfielder Caroline Weir played alongside Kerr and Cuthbert in the midfield.
Finland got the first chance of the game as early on as the second minute. Lehtola shot from long distance and hit the crossbar, Franssi was there for the rebound but received it badly to her foot and the shot ended wise.
Scotland had problems at both taking and defending Finland's throw-ins. A good example of that was in the 7th minute when a badly taken throw-in between Docherty and Weir ended in a counter from Finland where Öling bypassed the entire Scottish midfield to enter their final third but ultimately made a wrong decision that stopped the action.
Finland took the lead in 9' with a rocket from Natalia Kuikka. The entire Scottish formation was pulled toward the right-hand side and when Kuikka got a hold of the ball, she was left wide open to take a shot from Scotland's left.
The duo of Caroline Weir and Sam Kerr was prominent in transitions when they moved through the middle combining with each other to enter Finland's box. The Real Madrid midfielder also gravitated toward the wide areas at times to help Hanson battling Finland's rightback. Erin Cuthbert operated mostly from half spaces providing long balls and communicating with the defensive line.
Nea Lehtola doubled Finland's lead in 28'. Finland had a throw-in near the corner flag and Scotland's Clark had to panic clear the ball after battling a Finnish attacker in the penalty area, however, the clearance ended up at Lehtola's feet who was in position to shoot from outside the box.
Scotland was desperate to score before halftime. Their best chances came from set pieces, all taken by Weir. The Scots had a few close chances in the last 15 minutes and a penalty shout in the added time of the first half.
The second half was quite balanced with both teams going for a goal. However, no matter how hard they tried, Scotland didn't create a lot of dangerous chances. Caroline Weir pushed more forward after the introduction of Lisa Evans in 72'. It was Weir and Thomas who were the most drawn-out players in the Scottish attack and it didn't bring Scotland much danger. Finland also parked the bus in the last 10 minutes of the encounter and frustrated the Scots to the point of shooting blindly, and most shots ended up getting blocked by the Finnish defence.
After losing out on WEURO 2021 and World Cup 2023, Caroline Weir will also miss out on the upcoming WEURO 2025 as Scotland loses out on a spot in the group stage.