Scotland spent most of the first half in Pardubice looking like a team that had not yet arrived, and the second half making the Czech Republic pay for it. Goals from Caroline Weir and Claire Emslie, either side of the hour, gave Melissa Andreatta's side a 2-0 win in the first leg of their Women's World Cup play-off semi-final. The return is in Paisley on Tuesday.
A forgettable first half
Andreatta had talked all week about the Czechs being big and physical, and she set Scotland up to deal with it. Out went the usual 3-5-2. In came a flat back four, with Amy Muir at right-back and Rachel McLauchlan tucked in at right-centre-back. For a while it worked. The hosts could only hit Scotland on the counter, and Scotland controlled the game without doing much with it.
Then the press dropped deeper, the grip loosened, and the Czechs finished the half as the better side. At 0-0 and with a long second 45 minutes ahead, it was not obvious Scotland would find the answer. They found it in the 57th minute.
Weir's thigh and a goal worth the ticket
Kathleen McGovern knocked a ball down, Weir killed it on her thigh and, without letting it drop, lashed it into the far bottom corner. It was the kind of finish that BBC Scotland's report called a moment of magic, and the kind that made Andreatta run out of ways to describe her captain afterwards. "She has a sixth sense almost of where her team-mates are," the head coach said. "It's always the team first with her."
Eight minutes later it was two. Emslie had been on the pitch for roughly two minutes when Lauren Davidson found her with a lovely ball, and she stroked it into the same corner. It was her first goal since becoming a mother, and she said afterwards she had not scored in about two years. Her son Jamie was in the stand. "He was sleeping apparently, and my mum woke him up screaming!" she said.
The Czechs pushed, Scotland held
The home side did not fold. Sandy MacIver made a string of saves to protect the clean sheet, and Franny Cerna missed a close-range header she will think about on the way home. Erin Cuthbert, newly named Chelsea captain, came on for her first appearance of the season and slotted into the middle of the park as if she had never been away. Nela Krejcirikova was sent off in the 87th minute for a late challenge on Jenna Clark, which means the Czechs will be without her on Tuesday.
There was one more moment of drama in added time. Martha Thomas went down in the box under a challenge from goalkeeper Barbora Votikova and the referee pointed to the spot. The pitchside monitor showed the keeper had made the slightest of touches on the ball, and the penalty was overturned. Scotland picked up no cards at all.
What Paisley decides
At 2-0 the tie is far from over, but Scotland will fancy their chances on home soil at St Mirren's ground, with the match live on the BBC Scotland channel. The prize for getting through is a round-two play-off, and the likely opponent is Sweden, who won 5-0 in Lithuania in their own first leg. That is a conversation for after Tuesday. First Scotland have to repeat the second half, not the first.
Match facts: Czech Republic 0-2 Scotland (half-time 0-0), Women's World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final first leg, Stadion Arnosta Kostala, Pardubice, Friday 9 October 2026, attendance 1,304. Goals: Weir 57' (assist McGovern), Emslie 65' (assist Davidson). Red card: Krejcirikova (Czech Republic) 87'. Second leg: Paisley, Tuesday 13 October.
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