Thomas aims to complete journey from 'nobody' to major finals

Women's Nations League, Group A1: Scotland v Netherlands

Venue: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Tuesday, 25 February Kick-off: 19:30 GMT

Coverage: Watch on BBC Scotland channel, iPlayer and BBC Sport website plus follow text updates on BBC Sport website & app

Martha Thomas was recovering from injury when she received the message that would change her life.

At the time, she was a college senior in the United States studying exercise science at Charlotte in North Carolina and undergoing rehabilitation from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

''It's going to sound so random, but I actually got a LinkedIn message," the 28-year-old striker recalled. "I had planned to put my name into the NWSL draft, but when I did my knee, that fell through.

"There was a guy trying to recruit people with European passports who played in the college system in America for Le Havre in France. So, having a European passport, I sort of flew up on his radar.

"They offered me a chance to go there and finish my rehab and then playing a couple of months into the season. It was a really good opportunity for me.''

Thomas spent most of her childhood growing up in South Florida, the daughter of a Scottish mother and English father, but it was in France when she began to think she could have a career in football.

''I saw the opportunity that there was to play while being paid, it just escalated from there and I absolutely loved it," she said. "I was like, I get to do this for a living!

"I started playing and started really enjoying myself and that's when I got picked up by West Ham. To go to one of the top leagues in England from Division 2 in France was a huge jump, but it was one I was really excited for."

Thoughts of international football were still far off.

"I had really low expectations for myself and just wanted to settle in," she admitted. ''I was a nobody in a way.

"I didn't play for a national team - I came from America. No-one really knew who I was. I just wanted to enjoy myself and see where it got me.''

It got her noticed by Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr.

"I'd played for the US Under-23 team, but when Shelley called me in, I had just missed that 2019 World Cup window," Thomas explained.

"I think I was at the first camp straight after that World Cup and, after that, it was sort of no looking back and it didn't feel like a decision for me to make.''

Thomas scored twice on her debut in a 3-0 win over Ukraine in March 2020 and has gone on to score 21 goals in 42 appearances for Scotland.

She has moved from West Ham to Manchester United and then on to Tottenham Hotspur, picking up FA Cup runners-up medals with the latter two.

However, qualifying for the finals of a major tournament with Scotland would be a career high.

''I would be 29 or 30 at that point and that would be the pinnacle of my career if we could get there - and it's definitely what I'm hoping that this team can achieve and strive towards," she said.

A successful Nations League campaign would help that ambition and the side currently led by interim head coach Michael McArdle are already up against it after losing their opener in Austria, before hosting the Netherlands on Tuesday.

''It helps you have a better chance of qualifying if you stay in League A in the top few positions - it just makes that pathway even better for qualifying," Thomas added.

"It's what we want. We want to play these top teams and prove ourselves.''