SCOTLAND Women can reclaim pole position in their European Championship qualifying section if they beat Macedonia by three goals or more in Skopje today.
Anna Signeul's side were knocked off the top last night when Iceland won 6-0 in Slovenia, but have an immediate chance to re-establish themselves at the summit against a nation whose record in recent years has been woeful. Macedonia have no players of any repute apart from Natasa Andonova, the attacking midfielder who plays for top Swedish side Rosengard.
The Macedonians sit 122th in the Fifa Womens' World Rankings, the lowest of any European team, and over 100 places behind Scotland, who are 20th. In the last World Cup qualifying campaign they lost 48 goals in just four games against Italy and Spain.
The purple period in Macedonia's recent history was in March 2011, when they came off an eleven-game losing streak to draw with Lithuania before beating Luxembourg and Latvia. Since then they have played 27, lost 25 and drawn the other two.
Given this record their home 4-0 defeat to group top seeds Iceland last Thursday starts to look respectable. All the more so as the visitors were three up after 17 minutes, and notched the fourth before the half hour.
The truth, according to Scotland coach Signeul, might have been less flattering for the hosts. Heavy, prolonged rain in Skopje last week caused havoc with the pitch at the Macedonian Football Federation headquarters.
"The ball was stopping in puddles and there were slide tackles which looked dangerous," Signeul said. "They probably shouldn't have played on the pitch. Had it not been for the conditions I think Iceland would have scored more."
Signeul's players were allowed to train on the same pitch yesterday and were relieved to find it had improved considerably thanks to the warm weather in the capital.
"I was surprised to see the pitch had dried up so much, and the Macedonians were really kind to let us train on it today," Signeul said.
After scoring ten goals in their opening two group games against Slovenia and Belarus, the Scots will be looking for another handsome win. There is a fitness doubt over Bayern Munich striker Lisa Evans and a decision will be taken just before kick off.
Otherwise Signeul has all the players who roared back to top form in the second half of Friday night's 7-0 win over Belarus available to her.
The Swede was taken with the performance of former Hibs and Arsenal midfielder Caroline Weir at Fir Park. The 20-year-old was nominated player of the match by her team-mates after a powerful performance in which she scored the second goal.
"We have always rated Caroline," Signeul said. "I saw her for the first time when she was a 12-year-old and played for the under-15s as a wide left midfielder.
"She has a great strike on the ball, reads the game well and has fantastic technique. This is just the start of her career and I can see she will become very, very good."
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