The Women’s World Cup has kicked off and Sunday evening saw Scotland suffer defeat against England despite a tense finish and a robust second-half performance.
What piqued our interest most was Liverpool FC Women attacking midfielder, Christie Murray lining up for Scotland as they play in the World Cup for the first time ever. She’s our only Red out there!
Unfortunately losing 2-1 to the Lionesses, Murray had to be replaced in the 87th minute after a heavy challenge minutes earlier from former Red, Lucy Bronze, forced her off the pitch.
Murray has over 60 caps to her name and her teammates will be counting on her experience to get them through the group stages.
Game on in Nice.@emslie22 scores our first ever #FIFAWWC goal.#ENGSCO #OurGirlsOurGame
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) 9 June 2019
The 29-year-old has only just finished her debut season with the Reds and has impressed since arriving from Arsenal in the summer.
In the last day of the current season, her skill from set-pieces ensured she created two of the goals scored in a 3-1 Merseyside derby win over Everton Ladies FC.
Off the back of those assists, Murray will be hoping to replicate her club form with her country, as she comes up against three ex-Liverpool players in England’s Lucy Bronze, Alex Greenwood and Lucy Staniforth.
Playing at a World Cup for your country is something every footballer dreams of, but few get the honour of doing so. I’m extremely proud to be one of the twenty three players selected to represent Scotland at our first World Cup. It really is a dream come true. 💙🏴 pic.twitter.com/ejXG0aYtKB
— Christie Murray (@christiemurray7) May 15, 2019
Although they never played together, Murray will also have a former Red with her at Scotland: 2016 Liverpool Ladies Player of the Year, Caroline Weir.
“We’ve got a lot of players playing at the top clubs in England and in Europe, so the aim for us is to get out of the group and see where it takes us,” she told JOE.
“We’ve got a great coach and a good squad of players so we’re excited about the challenge going forward and can’t wait to get started.”
After the defeat against England on Sunday, Scotland will look to make amends when they take on Japan on June 14th before meeting Argentina on June 19th in their final game of Group D.