Caroline Weir admits she “found it hard to sleep for quite a few nights” after Scotland’s defeat by Finland and failure to qualify for Euro 2025.
Pedro Martinez Losa’s side suffered a 2-0 loss in Helsinki a week past Tuesday after a 0-0 draw in Edinburgh four days earlier to leave them without a major tournament appearance in six years.
Plenty discourse since the “difficult, hard hitting” defeat surrounding the players and the head coach’s position has developed, though there has been no official news.
Though, Real Madrid’s Weir, who was in action on Scottish soil for the Spanish giants against Celtic in the Women’s Champions League said Martinez Losa has the “respect” of the squad, despite missing out on two major tournaments.
“It’s not for me to say, but I think Pedro [still has the confidence of the squad],” the 29-year-old said following Real’s 3-0 win in Hamilton.
“He’s put a lot of trust in me recently especially and the players respect him for sure. All these questions are asked when a campaign ends.
“There will be a time we need to think what’s next for the national team, but for now it’s hard to say exactly.”
‘I had thoughts you don’t want to have’
In the absence of Aston Villa defender Rachel Corsie, Weir captained Scotland in both of their two-legged play-off games against Hungary and Finland.
While she was at the heart of a superb performance at Easter Road in the semi-final second leg against the Hungarians, she – and her team-mates – could not replicate such magic against the Finns and sparingly troubled their goal.
A flat performance in the freezing Finnish capital meant that by the time the Scots started to turn the screw ever so slowly, the damage had been done by two first-half goals.
When the full-time whistle whirled round the Bolt Arena, the Scotland players sunk to deck and stared deep into the night.
Weir was left with an abundance of what if’s and will spend the summer, once more, on the sofa, watching many of her club-mates hit the biggest stage in Switzerland.
“I’ve probably found it one of the more difficult times in my career in terms of a result like that,” the former Arsenal and Manchester City midfielder said of last Tuesday’s game.
“I actually found it hard to sleep after for quite a few nights.
“It’s hit a lot of players very hard, for me definitely, thinking, ‘what more could I have done?’ Thoughts you really don’t want to have, but that’s happened in the last week.
“I think it’s probably too soon to say exactly where [Scotland go from here].
“We have to reflect, see where it was we fell short exactly. For me, it’s still a little bit too soon to really go into the details, we have to let it settle a little bit.”
But nine days on from yet another disappointment, Weir will not have been the only one suffering sleepless nights as the restlessness rises among the support at the radio silence.