Women’s Euro 2025 play-off final first leg: Scotland v Finland
Venue: Easter Road, Edinburgh Date: Friday, 29 November Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Coverage: Watch on BBC Scotland, listen on BBC Radio Scotland Extra & follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website
“I just want to go, make it happen and get the job done.”
Erin Cuthbert is done with talking.
She and her Scotland team-mates have spoken at length about qualifying for next summer’s European Championships but now the midfielder is desperate to deliver on those words.
Pedro Martinez Losa’s side are two games away from making their return to a major tournament after six years – a prospect that has the Chelsea player giddy.
Cuthbert was a bright-eyed bairn when Scotland made their only appearance at a European finals in 2017 but now the 26-year-old is one of the established, experienced players who people expect to make things happen.
It is a great deal of pressure but it does not faze the girl who switched Irvine for Stamford Bridge.
“I just relish these moments because pressure is a privilege,” Cuthbert told BBC Scotland.
“It either brings out the best or the worst in people and it’s up to us for it to bring out the best in us.”
For someone who often carries the weight of club and country on her shoulders, Cuthbert has an incredible knack of making play on the biggest stage look like a kickabout in the park.
When Scotland made their Euros bow against England on 19 July 2017, she came off the bench to mark her 19th birthday.
Four days later against Portugal, she scored Scotland’s first goal at a major tournament.
Despite being at the heart of such historic moments, Cuthbert often looks back on the qualifying campaign, the creation of the history – and all the blood, sweat and tears that went into it – instead of the finals.
“I think about the way we qualified rather than the Euros itself,” the former Glasgow City midfielder said.
“Thinking about the feeling of qualifying, the feeling I felt in Albania, the feeling when we qualified for the Euros last time…
“If I could bottle that moment up and share it with everyone in the room, I’m sure it’d be the best thing in the world.”
Cuthbert could not hide her emotions when recalling those celebrations: she smiled from ear to ear, her head nodded in glee, her eyes widened as the memories flooded back.
She knows Scotland are close to that high once more and she is craving it.
“Even when I talk about the feeling I had qualifying for the Euros now, it’s crazy and still gives me the same emotions,” she said.
“For anyone and everyone in our squad to feel that, it would be immense.”
Many in the squad believe they should already have a major tournament experience on their CV.
Two years ago, they could smell the 2023 World Cup but lost out in agonising fashion with a poor play-off performance at home to the Republic of Ireland.
A couple years before that, their 2022 Euros hopes ended after a lacklustre qualifying campaign – with Friday’s opponents Finland administering the deadly blow.
That means revenge could be in the air at Easter Road, the same venue as that painful 1-0 defeat nearly four years ago.
Marko Saloranta’s side are “no mugs”, though, according to Cuthbert.
“They’re an impressive team,” she said. “They’ve not gone to the last four out of five Euros for nothing, but I think the group is in a good place to deal with that.”
There has been a calmness and a confidence in the Scotland camp this week.
An unbeaten Nations League B campaign and a particularly impressive second leg victory against Hungary means they fear no-one.
Not even Finland.
“We’ve got ourselves into a position where we certainly feel confident but we have to go and earn it,” Cuthbert added. “We have to earn the right to play, earn the right to be at the European Championships.
“I don’t care whether it’s Finland or Hungary, I don’t care what nation, I just want to beat them and I want to go through.”
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