By Shannon McLoughlan in France for City Media
Hayley Lauder earned her 100th cap for Scotland on Friday afternoon as the Scots fell to a 2-1 defeat to Japan.
Lauder, Lee Alexander and former City players, Rachel Corsie, Lisa Evans, Erin Cuthbert, Jane Ross and Fiona Brown all featured during Scotland’s second FIFA World Cup game as the side still search for their first point of the competition.
Both Lauder and Alexander played a full 90 minutes for the side and were both unfortunate to walk away with nothing for their efforts against the former world champions.
There unfortunately wasn’t much Alexander could do to keep the Japanese’s first goal out as a hard strike snuck underneath the cross bar and their second was a well-placed penalty kick. The City shot-stopper kept her side in it in the second half as she produced a fine save before the hour mark as she got down to push a long-ranged strike safely around her goal posts.
Lauder was brought into the starting 11 for the game against Japan after not featuring in the side’s opening World Cup game as she made her World Cup debut. Having made her national team debut back in 2010 earning her 100th cap on her World Cup debut is extremely special, regardless of the result.
Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages are not over yet as they still have a chance to progress if they beat Argentina on Wednesday evening. A third-place finish in Group D may be enough to see them through to the knock-our rounds and create even more history in their World Cup debut.
City players Jo Love and Leanne Crichton are still to make their World Cup debuts but could be brought into the starting 11 against Argentina as Scotland manager, Shelley Kerr, will look to ensure her side don’t exit the competition without a single point.