SCOTLAND captain Gemma Fay will become the first British footballer — female or male — to reach 200 caps if, as expected, she is between the posts for Scotland against the Republic of Ireland tonight.
The game at Stark’s Park is the tenth and final preparation game for Anna Signeul and her players before they leave for Euro 2017. The opening Group D game is against England in Utrecht a week on Wednesday.
The Netherlands tournament is also expected to bring down the curtain on Fay’s international career, which started pre-Scottish devolution in 1998. The Perth-born goalie, who plays for Icelandic club Stjarnan, was just 16 when she played against the Czech Republic in a Euro qualifier.
Anna Signeul, who made Fay her captain in 2009, four years after replacing Vera Pauw as head coach, said of the 200 cap landmark: “It’s absolutely fantastic when you think about it.
“There are quite a number of American players who have also reached 200 caps, but when the United States didn’t have a professional league they played as a club team. It was easier to get a lot of caps.
“For a player from Scotland, it’s quite amazing. It means she has been playing an average of ten international games a year for 20 years — and for nearly all that time she’s also been holding down a day job.”
Tonight Scotland will play an Ireland side which has lost just once in six games under new head coach Colin Bell. A former Leicester City youth player, he has spent almost his entire career playing and coaching in Germany, leading FFC Frankfurt to the Women’s Champions League in 2015.
Signeul says she will take no chances with Rachel Corsie, Jo Love and Kirsty Smith, who are all carrying knocks, ahead of the Euros. Ireland captain Emma Byrne is also out of the friendly, as is striker Stephanie Roche.
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