Women's World Cup: Sir Alex Ferguson gives support for Scotland

Scotland were left frustrated in Rennes on Friday

Scotland have been buoyed by Sir Alex Ferguson's support in the build up to their crucial Women's World Cup game against Argentina, says head coach Shelley Kerr.

The former Manchester United manager has been in touch with Kerr, whose side must beat Argentina at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday to have a chance of progressing from Group D.

Scotland lost their first two games against England and Japan 2-1.

"He was very complimentary," said Kerr.

"The determination, the stamina, the togetherness of the team to finish so strong in both games. It is a great bit of support from an absolute legend.

"It's absolutely brilliant for myself as a manager for him to contact me, and also for the players to pass on his best wishes and he's going to be tuning in for the game tomorrow night."

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Kerr's side narrowly went down to former winners Japan in their penultimate group game on Friday in Rennes, with a VAR decision going against them in the opener and two penalty claims waved away in their second match.

And it appears former Old Trafford boss Ferguson was irked by the calls that leave Scotland's hopes of progression in the balance.

"Everybody knows Sir Alex, so I probably won't tell you everything because he did say that he was disappointed in some of the decisions that were made against us," Kerr said.

'We planned to be in this position'

Kerr insists the team have bounced back well from the narrow defeats to England, ranked third in the world, and Japan, winners in 2011 and runners-up four years ago.

Beating Argentina, who defended well in their 0-0 draw with Japan and 1-0 defeat by England, will give the Scots a great chance of progressing as one of the best third-placed sides.

"If you can't be motivated going into the last game when you've an opportunity to get into the last 16 in your first World Cup then you probably shouldn't be here," Kerr added.

"If you look at the previous two games, a lot of people have got caught up expecting Scotland to win.

"In some ways that's good because it's a credit to the players and what people think of the team but in reality we've played two formidable teams.

"We have to be more attacking against Argentina and they will have to at some point as well. It's something we've been good at throughout the campaign to get us here. And I've no doubt that our players are prepared well enough and [if they] bring their A-game, then I'm sure it will be a positive result for us."

The South Americans sit 17 spots lower in the world rankings than 20th-placed Scotland and Kerr says her team were prepared for their tournament hopes to fall on this game.

"Not in a negative way, but we probably planned to be in this position," she said. "We were hopeful we'd have taken something for those first two games but realistic that it would probably come down to the Argentina game."