Claire Emslie: Euros blow gave me World Cup focus
The Scotland winger says she's determined to enjoy every minute of being away with Scotland.
Scotland's Claire Emslie has revealed the disappointment of not making the cut for Euro 2017 made her concentrate every effort on making the World Cup - and she'll savour every moment of being there this month.
Emslie and her teammates are in the final preparations for their group games against England, Japan and Argentina and will fly out to France on Wednesday to their training camp.
For the 25-year-old, the journey will be all the sweeter after she was left out of the squad for Scotland's first major championships appearance, when they qualified for the Euros two years ago.
"It was hard - I was so gutted I didn't get to go," said Emslie. "It was a strong squad and I hadn't really been involved under Anna [Signeul].
"It was brutal to sit at home but it made me so determined to work hard and make sure I was up for selection for the next tournament.
"Fortunately since Shelley [Kerr] has taken over she has included me. She gave me my first start and I scored my first goal. It's great to be part of a team that's going to a World Cup and I'm just fortunate that I'm getting to go as I know how hard it is to sit at home on my sofa.
"I'm just planning to enjoy every moment, take everything in.
"That's the message we're getting from the coaching staff."
Emslie will move to Orlando Pride from Manchester City after the tournament and while she was excited about the move, she said she was putting club football to one side to give everything for Scotland.
She said: "It was important for me to get my move all sorted before the World Cup. I'm really excited about it but right now all my focus is on the national team.
"I've always wanted to play pro soccer in America. To get he chance to play with the likes of Alex Martin and Martha, well I'm not going to say no to that.
"Although it's England first up, we've got three massive games so we're treating them all the same.
"We're not thinking too much about the occasion and more about what we need to do to win."
And she admitted the focus on players was taking some getting used to after a mural of her appeared on the side of an Edinburgh biscuit factory.
"It's so cool," she said. "My auntie sent me a photo of it. She tracked it down and posed beside it. She looks so small because it's so massive.
"I've just seen Caroline Weir has one as well. Hers is on a wall at her high school in Dunfermline.
"I've played with Caroline since I was nine years old and we were saying to each other, 'We're plastered on these walls across Scotland - what is going on?'
"It just shows the great support that's going round for the national team at the moment. We really appreciate it."