Safe Hands: Lee Alexander (Glasgow City and Scotland)

Glasgow City’s goalkeeper picks not a spectacular save but a necessary one: a penalty stop at 0-0 in the home win over Poland that kept Scotland’s World Cup qualifying momentum intact. She never intended to be a goalkeeper – she saw herself as a midfielder, played half a game in goal and half outfield from about twelve, and had settled into the position by fourteen. That outfield background shows in what she rates as her strength, playing with the ball at her feet. Asked what would have made her better, she answers goalkeeper-specific coaching from a younger age, having had none until fourteen or fifteen, and asks only that outfielders stop assuming keepers are all mad.