Fleets back for Scotland friendlies

Scotland captain Julie Fleeting will return to the international fold next month
for her country's two upcoming friendlies in Italy.

Head Coach Anna Signeul has chosen a strong squad for the two matches
as part of her preparations for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Scotland will play Italy in the first match, at the Stadio le Piane on 8th March, 11am kick off,
with the second game taking place two days later against Japan, who are on tour in Europe.
This will be played at the Stadio Civitelle, kick off 3pm.

Scotland squad:

Caroline COLLIE - Chelsea
Gemma FAY - Leeds Utd
Michelle BARR - Vermont Lady Voltage
Stacey COOK - Hibernian
Ifeoma DIEKE - Soccerlocker (USA)
Julie FERGUSON - Hibernian
Rhonda JONES - Florida Atlantic Univ.
Michelle KERR - Doncaster Rovers Belles
Amy McDONALD - FC Kilmarnock
Amanda BURNS - Hibernian
Nicky GRANT - Hibernian
Joanne LOVE FC - Kilmarnock
Kirsty McBRIDE - Hibernian
Julie SMITH FC - Kilmarnock
Jayne SOMMERVILLE - Glasgow City
Denise BROLLY - Florida Atlantic Univ.
Julie FLEETING - Arsenal
Suzanne GRANT - Glasgow City
Pauline HAMILL - Hibernian
Suzanne MALONE - Hibernian

i think Fleets is a fantastic player just ashame she plays for Scotland - not trying to upset anyone with that comment, but Scotland are not the best team and are very unlikely to make it to any big finals. It would be great to see Fleets on a world stage in a big final/semi's/quaters mixing it with the Germans, French, Swedish, Norwegins, ect...

(all comments made above are fine because I'm half scottish - so love the Scots anyways )

Hey you got a swedish coach now, never know what might happen!

hmmm I think it will take a little more than that...maybe if the coach brings along a few of the Swedish players, then we might have a chance! OR Fleets could just find a way of being English and play for us

Wednesday March 8th



Italy 4-0 Scotland

Scotland lost 4-0 to Italy this afternoon, in the first of this week's two internationals, despite holding the hosts to a goalless first half.

The match was put back for several hours because of the atrocious weather conditions, and was played on a very heavy pitch which made passing and control tricky.

Italy had the chance to go ahead in just nine minutes with a penalty, but Gemma Fay brought off a fine save, and the teams went in level at the break. However, the home team pressed forward in the second half and scored four goals without reply, which was not a true reflection of the game overall.

Scotland next meet Japan on Friday afternoon.

Source: Fair Game site

With or without fleets Scotland can't seem to string any good results together

sigh!!!
4 goals in the second half must be deflating and hard to take esp when you already had a penalty saved
Hope they fair better against Japan, a win would be nice! Maybe next time I'll wear me Scotland shirt for good measure

I think Scotland will do better in the next game. This one was very close to the last round of matches in the league/cup. They can't have had that much time to practise together either.

Japan is a good team though, us swedes have had some trouble against them. So a good result against them might give the team a boost.

Ouch!

Scotland lost the second of their two internationals in Italy,
4-0 against Japan on Friday afternoon.

The match at the Stadio Civitelle in Agnone was played in difficult conditions,
very wet and windy, and the Scots found it hard to keep up with a fast Japanese side.

Coach Anna Signeul said afterwards:
"The team played well defensively, none of the goals were because of defensive failures
but we conceded four very unlucky goals.
Scotland had chances in the second half but no goals materialised."

Scotland return to competitive duty next month
when they face Switzerland at McDiarmid Park in Perth on 26 April,
a match they must win to keep alive their FIFA World Cup campaign.

Source: Fair Game.

4 unlucky goals
well I'm gutted again (not for the first time today ) Scotland ladies lost, Sweden ladies lost & Scotland Rugby Team lost - good job I don't put money on things - I'd be skint,

I found an article bout a month ago about Fleets and now, after forgetting about it, I thought I'd post it

The Fleeting glimpse of success
MARTIN HANNAN

YOU would expect that the most prolific goalscorer of all time for a national side would be a household name in most countries. But this is Scotland, and Julie Fleeting suffers from a disadvantage in Scottish football terms - she is self-evidently a woman.

Despite the valiant efforts of development officers and the enthusiastic support of the SFA, women's football is still not given serious attention in our macho chauvinist culture. If it were, Julie Fleeting would be a famous national heroine as she approaches her 87th cap for Scotland's senior side, for which she made her debut at the age of just 15.

That was almost ten years ago against Wales in November, 1996, and since then Fleeting has run up the astonishing total of 93 goals for Scotland, i.e. better than a goal per game for her country. By comparison, Scotland's top male goalscorers, Denis Law and Kenny Dalglish, took 55 and 102 matches respectively to notch their joint record of 30 goals.

On Thursday, Fleeting is set to captain Scotland against Finland in a friendly match at McDiarmid Park in Perth, which is now the permanent home of the women's national team and the centre for education and club development activity. It's a tough test for the Scots, who are also midway though the qualifying matches for the 2007 Women's World Cup.

And like the men's team in the European Championship, Scotland's women have drawn a very tough assignment with two of the giants of the women's game, Russia and Germany, fighting out qualification in Group 4 while Scotland languish some way behind them in third, though we are ahead of Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland.

Scotland have already lost 6-0 and 4-0 to Russia, and even though they lost 4-0 to Germany in Bayreuth in October last year, Fleeting is hopeful that the Scots can end the group on a high note when they play host to Germany on September 23.

"Finland are a very good side who look sure to qualify for the World Cup," said Fleeting, "but these are the kind of teams we have to play if we are to improve and challenge the likes of Russia and Germany in the future."

Indeed, Finland have themselves improved greatly in recent years, doing very well in last year's European Championship in England under their coach Michael Kald. The Finns reached the semi-finals, losing only to eventual champions Germany, and will host the next European Championships in 2009.

As Fleeting suggests, the Finns are currently in contention for a place in the 2007 World Cup and will advance to the finals in China if they take four points from Denmark in their final two matches.

"It will be a very tough match for us on Thursday, no question," said Fleeting, "but we have a good squad of players, many of whom are still comparatively young even though they have played alongside each other many times."

Fleeting herself is only 25, while the squad's most capped player, Nicky Grant of Doncaster Belles, has played 92 times for her country and is not yet 30. Another squad member with more caps than Fleeting is Pauline Hammill, also of Doncaster Belles, with 89 appearances for Scotland.

"There are a number of us who have played quite a lot of times together and we all get on well and have a good team spirit," said Fleeting. "We have developed together as a team, but we also have younger players coming through such as Jo Love of Doncaster Belles who has 44 caps and is only 20." Fleeting herself will almost certainly reach the 100 cap figure some time during the next year or two, though other players will also eventually reach that milestone. What no one can match, however, is her astonishing prowess in front of goal - her tally of 93 is more than the rest of the Scottish women's squad put together. And whisper this...she has single-handedly scored more than twice the number of international goals achieved by all of Scotland's men's squad.

In the past she has given a lot of credit for her success to Vera Pauw, the inspirational coach of Scotland's women who left last year and was replaced by Anna Signeul from Sweden, the former head coach of the Swedish Youth programme who won the UEFA Under-18 Championship as a coach in 1999.

"Anna is very popular with the girls in the squad," said Fleeting. "She does things differently from Vera, obviously, but she is determined that we will get more success. We also have Tony Gervaise who is doing a great job as coach of the under-19 team."

The 'scoringmost' Scot will arrive home on Wednesday from Iceland where her husband, goalkeeper Colin Stewart, went to play during that country's summer season after being released by Partick Thistle at the end of last season. Former Dundee United player Siggi Jonsson is the manager of Icelandic Premier Division side Grindavik and signed Stewart on a three month contract, though the goalkeeper is looking for a club on his return to Scotland.

To keep herself fit, Fleeting has been playing for Valur FC's women's team, and she is leaving them in good order as they are presently top of the Premier Division. "It has been a great experience and I have enjoyed playing and living here," said Fleeting, "but I am looking forward to going home to Ayrshire."

Fleeting, the daughter of Jim who is head of the SFA's community coaching programme, is a PE teacher in her home town of Kilwinning, but at the weekends 'Mrs Stewart', as her pupils call her, becomes Julie Fleeting, star striker of Arsenal Ladies FC. Two years ago she scored all three goals as Arsenal won the Women's FA Cup final, and last season she played a big role in the team's Double triumph in cup and league. But Fleeting is ambitious for more success.

"We want the Treble," she said with meaning, "but above all we want success in Europe. We reached the quarter finals of the women's European Cup last year and the semis the year before, so we want to go all the way and win the trophy." Which, of course, is something Arsenal's men couldn't quite manage.

As the first Scottish woman to play professional football in the USA's women's league - she spent two seasons with San Diego Spirit - Fleeting is used to travelling long distances and copes well with the travel to and from Arsenal's matches. She does want to start a family sometime - "make sure and put that in!" she said - and explains that having children will not stop her from carrying on playing football.

"Lots of women in football and other sports have kids and return to playing," she said, "and indeed there's one of the girls at Arsenal who has two kids and she manages, so maybe that's what will happen eventually."

With apologies to our readers from the distaff side, let's just hope Julie Fleeting has plenty of sons who inherit their mother's striking genes - Scotland's male team could do with the goals.

source Scotsman.com

My fav bit is: "...she has single-handedly scored more than twice the number of international goals achieved by all of Scotland's men's squad"

Better late than never a Smog

A great article , interesting to know that she's scroed more goals than any of the scottish men , how embrassing for them

That's just amazing

Well, I have a confession to make.
I did not always like Fleets.
She has everything served on a silver platter in Arsenal.
But can u really blame her with a team like that?
That's the thing with strikers who have a strong midfield behind them,
it's hard to judge them.
I used to think of her that she was lazy,
always waiting for the final pass right on her foot / head,
a yard from the goal.
But what I've learnt at the Scotland v Finland game in August
is that when you have a weaker team behind you,
you'll raise to the occasion if you're a great player,
like Fleets: she was EVERYWHERE!
Fighting for the ball, stealing it, passing, shooting on goal,
sliding under opponents, trying to steal the ball, even DEFENDING at one point!
Respect to Jules - she's a great footballer & I'm glad she's a Gunner

_______________________________________________________________________

Shame on you Agent S for thinking Fleets was lazy , but I'm glad to see you've come to your senses

what?! Isnt that the same kinda reason you dont/didnt like Kalmari? - you thought she was lazy too
know what am like, I only remember whilst watching SCO men at the weekend - I think Fleets should have a fake beard & mustache and play for the men

Yep. She makes the same impression.
Especially when she used to play for UIK.
But for Finland - a totally different player.

An article from over a month ago but worth reading >click here<


I like this part

they did manage to score 6 at the weekend

Fleets has the best goals/caps ratio of any striker out there yet noone talks about her why is that?

WE DO! That's a good start

pff you thought she was lazy
yeah we'll crack on and chat about Fleets

I think you guys have only read the first part of my post

I am praising her a lot there!

you mean there was more?! argh I'll have another look

Yep, that's Fleets. Thanx Morav

Now all you have to do is to go to the Scotland Ladies games and support them