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| Venue: Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Date: Tuesday, 22 September 2020 Kick-off: 17:00 BST |
| Coverage: Live on BBC Two Wales, BBC Sport website and BBC Cymru Fyw website, live commentary on BBC Radio Wales MW. Also available on BBC iPlayer and via the Red Button. |
When you are an international footballer at the age of 15 you become used to the unexpected, and an ability to adapt to changing circumstances has served Carrie Jones well in 2020.
The 17-year old, who made her debut for Wales in the Faroe Islands in 2019 when she was too young to play club football, missed March’s friendly win over Estonia as she needed to revise for her GCSE exams.
However, you know what they say about best laid plans, because Jones’ exams were subsequently cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Regrets? There simply will not be time ,with Jones’ school days already in the rear-view mirror as she focuses on a new challenge, a career at arguably the world’s biggest football name, Manchester United.
Jones has joined the academy at United along with another Wales squad member, 19-year old Chloe Williams, and will continue her further education by doing a BTEC course at a college in Wigan as part of her apprenticeship with the Women’s Super League side.
It is a path of progression that simply did not exist for the previous generation of players, such as Natasha Harding and Jess Fishlock, who are now Jones’ international team-mates, and she is determined to seize her chance.
“It was quite tough, knowing I had to miss a Wales camp in March because of my GCSEs, but in the end the exams got cancelled,” she said.
“That was of course even more frustrating, but everyone understood why they got cancelled and of course health is the most important thing.
“Now I am with Manchester United Under-21s and I honestly can’t believe how fast it has happened, I am just so blessed to have the opportunity with United.”
With her exams cancelled and the football season curtailed by Covid-19, Jones had no idea what the next step would be for her.
The pandemic meant it was not possible to go for trials and with her footballing future uncertain, so was Jones’ educational future.
“Lockdown left a lot of uncertainty,” she explained. “I couldn’t trial and with my higher education I didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go, just that it would probably be over the border [in England] as that is where the opportunity is.
“There aren’t as many opportunities in women’s football as men’s, but in the end it all panned out and I am so happy that it did at one of the biggest club’s in the world.”
Jones will now try to help her international team-mates in Tuesday’s Euro 2022 qualifier in Oslo.
“It’s going to be a hard challenge but we are confident and hopefully we can get the result that we need,” she added.
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