Having quit her job in New York City to pursue a professional career in football, Scotland defender Vaila Barsley has not had the traditional career path.

The 29-year-old spent many years playing part-time in the United States, before Swedish outfit Eskilstuna United came calling in 2013 with an offer of professional terms.

Ekilstuna’s proposal was enough to lure Barsley away from her position at Ernst & Young in the Big Apple.

However, she has blossomed and won her first international cap earlier this year in the 5-0 friendly defeat to Belgium in April.

Scotland will be hoping to bounce back from Wednesday night’s 6-0 reverse to England in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 opener in Utrecht, as they head west to take on fellow tournament debutants Portugal in Rotterdam on Sunday.

Barsley, who represented England at junior level but qualifies for Scotland through her mother, watched the defeat from the sidelines.

However, she struggles to believe she is in the Netherlands at all after accepting her chance to grace the international stage may have eluded her.

“I felt I'd had my time in America,” she said. “I'd been there for six-and-a-half years. But I love football and that's all I've always wanted to do.

“I'm getting paid a lot less than I was, but I'm loving life. You can't play football forever so I will have the opportunity to have that lifestyle afterwards, but right now football is everything to me.

“It is late in my career to get called up for a national team. I thought my time was done, that I wouldn't get called up, but it's just incredible.”

Barsley was approached to play for Irish team Peamount United during their Champions League campaign in 2012, after impressing for Long Island Rough Riders in the States.

She left her job in New York, signed for Eskilstuna and has not looked back.

Now, ahead of the crunch match against Portugal, Barsley and insists the loss against England has put extra pressure on the Portugal clash.

“Going into the England game we were underdogs, it was our first game of the tournament, so it would have been out of this world if we'd have won,” she said.

“But this is a must-win game now for us.”

Barsley’s team-mate Jo Love added the squad were determined to banish the ghosts of the previous occasion they graced the Het Kasteel turf – losing against the Netherlands in a World Cup play-off semi-final in October 2014.

“Memories of this stadium aren’t so good for us,” said Love. “But we’re going to turn that around come tomorrow and I think coming into this game, all we are is positive.”

Scotland manager Anna Signeul said mood with the camp was excellent, and the players were chomping at the bit to give the travelling support something to cheer.

“I feel we’ve got lots of energy and determination to turn this around, to put on a good performance," said Signeul. "There’s still a lot of smiles in camp.

“The squad are here to compete and not just to participate. We were devastated after the [England defeat], we always knew England was going to be a very difficult opening match, but there’s a great team cohesion.

“We have had a difficult spring with injury after injury, but we still

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