Scotland Defender Sophie Howard Affirms Team’s Resilience After Euro Play-off Defeat

Scotland defender Sophie Howard has affirmed that the national team “will go again” despite the disappointment of failing to qualify for another major tournament. The Scots were denied their first major tournament appearance since 2019 following a second-leg defeat to Finland on Tuesday, which came after a goalless draw at Easter Road on Friday. Regarding Scotland’s failure to reach their third consecutive tournament, Howard expressed, “I think we’re just really disappointed.” She continued, “We wanted so much more and we didn’t achieve it. As a team we feel like we gave it everything.” Howard added, “I wouldn’t say we let ourselves down because we’re in this together, we’re just massively disappointed.” She further stated, “I feel like every single player on that pitch gave everything and I think we deserved to win with the way we played.” Howard highlighted the necessity of acknowledging the team’s emotions, saying, “I think it’s important that you allow the emotions to be disappointed, it just shows how much it means to us.” She elaborated, “To think about how we can recover from this would be wrong, we’re allowing the tears, and there have been many tears, but give it some time and we can look at how we can come back from this and lift each other up because that’s what this group is about.” Howard concluded by stating, “The whole national team is ready to pick one another up and go again.”