Youth Gareth Evans’ Scotland Women’s Under-19s qualified for the European Championships in April, successfully negotiating a difficult elite round to reach the finals in Norway in July. 2-0 victories over Russia and host-nation Croatia followed a 5-1 hammering of Iceland in the opening match to ensure that Scotland qualified as group winners. In May, Scotland Under-17’s travelled to Malta for the UEFA European Championships. After a difficult start, losing 2-0 to Portugal, Scot Gemmill’s team responded in spectacular fashion, firstly defeating Germany 1-0 and then overcoming Switzerland 3-1 to book their place in the semi-finals. Unfortunately, Scotland were knocked out by the Netherlands in the semi-finals, but returned home with heads held high after finishing in the final four of Europe at that age group. In other news… Scotland may not have been at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil this summer, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t cherish one of the greatest goals in Scottish football. The night before the opening match of the tournament between Brazil and Croatia marked the anniversary of that goal from Archie Gemmill against the Netherlands in Mendoza. To commemorate the occasion, “live” commentary of the match was provided on the Scottish FA twitter account, including a tweet about Gemmill’s incredible strike.