Scotland may have to lose to England to keep Team GB's Olympic hopes alive
England's hopes of reaching the UEFA Nations League finals are under serious threat after their second defeat of the tournament.
The Lionesses came out on the wrong side of a five goal thriller in Belgium, with Red Flames forward Tessa Wullaert scoring twice, firing a late penalty past Mary Earps.
Sarina Wiegman's team now sit third in Group A1, behind Belgium in second and three points off group leaders Netherlands. Only the team that finishes top will qualify for the Nations League tournament finals next year.
From there the four teams that qualify will compete in semi-finals, progressing to either the final or the third place play-off. But this also impacts qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games women's football tournament in Paris.
The Nations League acts as a de facto qualifying tournament, with the two finalists going through to represent Europe at the Games next summer. However, as France have already qualified as hosts, should they reach the final then the team finishing third would instead receive the slot.
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England, as the highest ranked British side, are the qualifying representatives for Team GB. That means they will only compete in Paris if the Lionesses can reach the latter stages of the Nations League.
Should they qualify it has been confirmed that Sarina Wiegman will manage team. But the issue is complicated by England sharing a Nations League group with Scotland.
Caroline Weir during Scotland's 2-1 defeat to England earlier in the tournament (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)The Lionesses beat the Scots in their opening group game. However, the two still have to face each other again on the final matchday, at Hampden Park next month.
This means that Scottish players, including the likes of Chelsea's Erin Cuthbert, are reliant on England winning the group to have any hope of playing at the Olympics. And with the Lionesses now realistically need to win both remaining games against Netherlands and Scotland to top the group, the Scots are in a unique situation.
Their players would only have a chance of playing in Paris by losing to England. Scotland defeating the Auld enemy would certainly end any chance Team GB has of playing at the Olympics.
But the bizarre scenario may not come to fruition. If England lose to Netherlands at Wembley on December 1, then their hopes of qualifying for the finals - and Team GB's chances of qualifying for Paris - would already be over before the two teams meet in Glasgow.
England's defeat in Belgium was their second of the Nations League, Wiegman's team also beaten by Netherlands last month. Their 3-2 loss in Leuven had the added blow of losing defender Alex Greenwood to a serious head injury.
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