Vaila’s Late Arrival (Vaila Barsley interview)

Vaila Barsley watched the Scotland squad announcement live on YouTube from her home in Sweden and cried, and so did her fiancee. At twenty-nine, three caps into an international career that began only in April, the qualified accountant was on her way to a first major tournament through a Shetland-born mother and an injury crisis that turned rumours of a call-up into an invitation. A former Arsenal and England youth player, six feet tall, with college football in America and five years in the Swedish top flight behind her, she describes her strengths as heading, set pieces, talking and organising, and grew into the role across friendlies against Belgium, Romania and Sweden. Her fiancee’s advice was simple: enjoy it, be in the experience, ignore outside opinions.