There was a bullishness about Pedro Martinez Losa as Scotland overcame Hungary in Budapest on Friday night. Martha Thomas tipped the balance of the Euro 2025 play-off tie in Scotland’s favour with the only goal of the game as the Spaniard remarked in a post-match BBC interview that his side “would not lose” the return leg.
By his own admission, the proof will be in the pudding at Easter Road on Tuesday evening.
“For me, the team is ready to play a major tournament,” he said. “This is what we work for and we have the confidence to that but the result tonight will dictate whether my words were the right ones or not.
“But, of course, this game is a special opportunity for Hungary too.
“We need to be okay with that in certain moments. How to deal with frustration, how to deal with moments when you score goals, how to stay concentrated…that is the challenge for us.”
The Spaniard also shrugged off any suggestion that he had delivered the pre-match team talk for his opposite number ahead of tonight’s game.
“You have to live the moment,” said Martinez Losa. “I think that the details of the game are not going to be set externally. It will be about what we do well on the pitch or not. I respect our opponent to the maximum level and the best way to respect the opponent is to prepare the maximum details.
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“Tonight is going to be about leadership also, about personality, about the game plan and also if the players can express it out on the pitch. And I'm sure they will do it.”
Should Scotland successfully negotiate tonight’s game they will face the winners of Montenegro and Finland with the Finns currently in control of that tie. That would be all that would then lie between Scotland and a return to a major tournament with the winner of those matches on the plane to Switzerland next summer.
In a bid to ensure that every aspect of preparation has been covered, the use of a sporting psychologist has been utilised across recent years by Pedro Martinez Losa, although the Spaniard did insist that any work done on the mental approach to the game would not be sufficient in isolation. Crucially, though, it is imperative that nerves are not Scotland’s undoing.
“We work with every single player individually,” said Martinez Losa. “We work with the group. We work with the message that we want the team to take but we know that having just a mental coach on its own is going to be the magic recipe.
“But, yes, we have addressed how our previous experiences were positive or not in certain aspects and we have tried to work on that and what aspect of the game that we cannot control.”
The nature of what is at stake tonight meant there was a word of caution from Martinez Losa as he told his players to embrace the pressure of the game rather than be intimated by it.
“The most important aspect is pressure,” he said “We are used to dealing with pressure in this environment and we take this pressure as a positive. It's a good opportunity and we want to take it. We also want to enjoy the occasion and want the players to enjoy it.
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“Because I'm sure in 10 years' time, 20 years' time, we are all going to remember this occasion as one of the most significant in our lives.
“Superficial analysis is about if we win or not but we have another analysis about the process. We have learned through the tough times. Every game is a test. We have learned as a group to keep calm and focus on what we can improve all the time. Hopefully we can do it together again tonight.”
