More Scots can turn pro - Dieke

Kirsty McBride will win her 50th cap for Scotland against Georgia

Scotland's only female full-time professional footballer says that there are others in the national squad who are capable of making the grade.

Ifeoma Dieke plays in the Women's Professional Soccer League in the USA with Chicago Red Stars.

"I told my mum when I was young my dream was to play football and she said 'don't be stupid'," said the defender.

"But I have worked hard and do it for a living, so there's no reason it can't happen to others a well."

Striker Julie Fleeting, presently on maternity leave, and Arsenal team-mate Kim Little are among the few to have left Scotland to play professionally on a part-time basis.

Dieke, meanwhile, has spent the bulk of her career in a US set-up that has thrived since they won the World Cup on home soil in 1999.

The 28-year-old's parents are Nigerian and she was born in the USA.

However, she insists that, with her family having moved to Cumbernauld when she was three, there was only ever one country she wanted to play for.

I feel more Scottish than I do American Scotland defender Ifeoma Dieke

"I played with Cumbernauld Cosmos and Cumbernauld United and, when I was 18, I got a scholarship in America, got my degree and played four years over there," Dieke told BBC Scotland.

"I then played for two years in Sweden but moved back to America when the new pro league started and now play for Chicago.

"I did have the chance to go into camp with the Americans, I think it was in 2004.

"Right before I was supposed to go, I just was not excited about it.

"Playing for Scotland is a privilege and it is all about passion and heart and I feel more Scottish than I do American, that's for sure."

Dieke is hoping to help Scotland to their second World Cup qualifying victory in five days when Georgia visit Tynecastle on Thursday, when Hibernian midfielder Kirsty McBride will win her 50th cap.

The Scots began their campaign with a 1-0 win over Greece in Athens on Saturday, while Thursday's visitors were hammered 15-0 by group favourites Denmark.

Denmark had started the group games with a 6-0 win over the Greeks, but Dieke thinks it is time for the Scots to reach a major finals.

"The most important thing on Saturday was to get three points," she said ahead of the game which will be shown live on BBC Alba.

"We were told to be patient because, now that we are one of the biggest nations in the group, we know that the likes of Greece, Georgia and Bulgaria might shut up shop and try to sneak that goal.

"We put pressure on ourselves as we know what we are capable of delivering.

"We are capable of getting to a championship and everyone is desperate to make that happen."