Megan won’t underestimate Euro opponents

Jun 13 2012 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

MEGAN Sneddon insists her Scotland side won’t underestimate Euro qualifying minnows Israel when the sides meet at Tynecastle on Saturday.

The Israelis have lost all five of their qualifiers so far and with the Scots needing to win to keep their hopes of a Euro 2013 playoff spot alive, Megan insists Scotland can’t just turn up and expect to collect all three points.

The midfielder, from Greenhills, told the News: “They are the underdogs and have got a poor record in this campaign so far.

“But I’m not one of these people who thinks my team can just turn up to win a football match.

“I don’t like to take things for granted and we can’t underestimate Israel.

“We are at home so that’s an advantage for us, but anything can happen in 90 minutes of football, so there’s no way we are going into Saturday’s game thinking that it is already won.

“We need to win and we can’t afford to drop any more points if we want to have the chance to play in Sweden next year.”

However, Megan has confidence in her side and added: “This is a difficult group we are in, but we have better players than they do so we should have enough to win the game.”

Saturday’s match is the first part of another crucial double-header for the Scots, who face Republic of Ireland on Thursday, June 21.

The Irish are only a point behind Scotland in third place, so Megan is adamant that they must win both matches.

“I’m sure a draw with Ireland won’t be good enough because there’s still some tricky games ahead for us,” said Megan, whose side trail 11 points behind group leaders France.

“We had a tight game against Ireland at home in April and only won the game in the final minutes, so we need to put in a good performance and make sure we put some distance between ourselves and Ireland.

“They are a big, physical team, so we need to be strong defensively against them. But it’s a big game and one I’m really looking forward to.”

Megan will claim her 99th cap for her country on Saturday and is set to reach a century if she features against Ireland.

The 26-year-old would love to reach that milestone and added: “It would be a massive achievement, particularly in such a short space of time.

“Hopefully, I will be fortunate enough to play in the next two games and reach the milestone. It would be a very proud moment for me to reach 100 caps.”