Erin Cuthbert spoke of her joy and relief after making her first appearance of the season in Scotland’s 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in the away leg of their Women’s World Cup round one play-off. The Chelsea captain, 28, had not featured at club level this season because of a knee injury, and she came on as a substitute in Pardubice.
Scotland’s victory, secured through captain Caroline Weir’s stunning opener and a superb finish from fellow substitute Claire Emslie, leaves them well placed for the return leg in Paisley on Tuesday. Sweden are the likely opponents for whichever team progresses.
For Cuthbert, the appearance was the end of a difficult period. “It’s so good,” she told BBC Scotland. “It’s been such a long summer. It’s always great to come on and play for my country again — I’ll never take it for granted when I get a serious injury. I’m just glad to get back on a football pitch. The relief, the amount of self-doubt that you have, the amount of stress — am I going to be back to the same level, how am I going to perform, is my knee going to be alright? All those things run through your head.”
She described the severity of the injury and the recovery work that followed. “It was a bad one. I was in crutches and a brace for the best part of a month. I lost a fair amount of muscle and over the summer I was trying to rebuild all of that again. It’s been a really, really hard journey.”
Cuthbert also praised Emslie, who scored her first goal since becoming a mum, with her son and mother attending the game in Pardubice. “I’m incredibly proud of her,” Cuthbert said. “I have an enormous amount of respect for her. Everything’s just so impressive — to be a mum, to play at the highest level.”
Czech Republic were given a late reprieve when the award of a penalty was overturned, while Cuthbert was “flabbergasted” that a late challenge on her in the box did not result in a spot-kick. Although delighted with the win, she warned that a 2-0 lead can be “dangerous”. “We’re a good team and when we play on the front foot, we can hurt teams,” she added. “The best form of attack is defence.”