he was still the man to lead Scotland to the Euros.<\/a><\/p>\nIt was a humbling horror show at Hampden but he was sure in himself. After Tuesday’s tears, he continued to stress his commitment to the cause and his belief in the squad.<\/p>\n
Following the 2-0 loss in Helsinki, he said Scotland are “on the borderline of success”. <\/p>\n
But since he took charge, this squad has grown in age and regressed in accomplishment.<\/p>\n
“These players are playing some of the best leagues in the world,” former Scotland captain Gemma Fay said on Sportsound.<\/p>\n
“What we haven’t been able to do is take those raw ingredients and build a winning team.<\/p>\n
“I don’t love speculating on people, so I won’t talk about Martinez Losa. The head coach’s job is to get the team to a major finals and he hasn’t done it.<\/p>\n
“We should have kicked on by now and we haven’t.”<\/p>\n
Rather than kick on, they have stumbled back.<\/p>\n
Only once have Scotland beaten a top 30 side in a competitive game under Martinez Losa – a 1-0 World Cup play-off semi-final against Austria two years ago.<\/p>\n
In September 2023 Martinez Losa was rewarded with a contract extension to take him through until after the 2027 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Eyebrows were raised at a decision that felt somewhat unmerited and unnecessary. Now, it starts to look ridiculous.<\/p>\n
The head coach inherited a team with Caroline Weir, aged 26, Erin Cuthbert at 23 and Claire Emslie at 27. Very handy ingredients. But nothing to show for it after another choke at crunch time.<\/p>\n
In this play-off final, Scotland were left undercooked, unable to recover from an inexplicably cautious 0-0 first leg in Edinburgh, which handed the Finns the initiative.<\/p>\n
The noise around Martinez Losa’s position cranked up after the England thumping, but was dialled down during a nine-game unbeaten run this year. Now, it will be yanked back up to the max.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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