What now for Scotland and Martinez Losa?

Nearly a year ago to the day, Martinez Losa sat down after a 6-0 home scudding from England and said he was still the man to lead Scotland to the Euros.

It was a humbling horror show at Hampden but he was sure in himself. After Tuesday’s tears, he continued to stress his commitment to the cause and his belief in the squad.

Following the 2-0 loss in Helsinki, he said Scotland are “on the borderline of success”.

But since he took charge, this squad has grown in age and regressed in accomplishment.

“These players are playing some of the best leagues in the world,” former Scotland captain Gemma Fay said on Sportsound.

“What we haven’t been able to do is take those raw ingredients and build a winning team.

“I don’t love speculating on people, so I won’t talk about Martinez Losa. The head coach’s job is to get the team to a major finals and he hasn’t done it.

“We should have kicked on by now and we haven’t.”

Rather than kick on, they have stumbled back.

Only once have Scotland beaten a top 30 side in a competitive game under Martinez Losa – a 1-0 World Cup play-off semi-final against Austria two years ago.

In September 2023 Martinez Losa was rewarded with a contract extension to take him through until after the 2027 World Cup.

Eyebrows were raised at a decision that felt somewhat unmerited and unnecessary. Now, it starts to look ridiculous.

The head coach inherited a team with Caroline Weir, aged 26, Erin Cuthbert at 23 and Claire Emslie at 27. Very handy ingredients. But nothing to show for it after another choke at crunch time.

In this play-off final, Scotland were left undercooked, unable to recover from an inexplicably cautious 0-0 first leg in Edinburgh, which handed the Finns the initiative.

The noise around Martinez Losa’s position cranked up after the England thumping, but was dialled down during a nine-game unbeaten run this year. Now, it will be yanked back up to the max.