OIivia Clark column: Big games, big mountains and my famous cousin

UEFA Women’s Euro Qualifiers: Croatia – Wales

Venue: Branko Cavlovic-Cavlek, Karlovac Date: Friday, July 12 Begin: 19:15 CEST

Cover: Live on BBC One Wales, iPlayer, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, the BBC Sport website and app, and live text commentary.

Highlights: S4C from 22:00 BST and later on request.

In her BBC Sport column, Bristol City goalkeeper Olivia Clark looks ahead to Wales’ Euro 2025 qualifiers against Croatia on Friday July 12 and Kosovo in Llanelli on Tuesday July 16.

We definitely want to get back on track in this camp and finish first in our qualifying group, but we know that our fate is still in our own hands if we win against Croatia and Kosovo.

We are all focused on the task ahead but are still disappointed that we lost four points to Ukraine in the last qualifying matches, having only managed two draws.

We didn’t really know what to expect from Ukraine. They are not far below us in the rankings, they lost to Croatia which will disappoint them, but they gave us two tough games.

We wanted to learn from the first game, but Ukraine implemented their game plan brilliantly.

It was by no means a disaster, but we know that this result means we now have to win our last two qualifying games to put ourselves in a good position and win the group.

The last draw in particular felt like a defeat, but if we look at it analytically, we are not doing too badly at all.

As a goalkeeper it can be tough when you see the game in front of you and it doesn’t go the way you wanted it to. It can be tough, you don’t have anything under control, but at the end of the day I think we just have to give credit to Ukraine.

Although it was frustrating, we didn’t talk about it much. Our manager Rhian Wilkinson said it wasn’t the camp we wanted, but it was the camp we needed, and I think everyone agrees with that message.

In Nations League Group A, we played against higher ranked teams for a whole year and we were like the Ukrainians – we sat deep and played for a draw. So we had to reorient ourselves and I think that was a completely different challenge.

We know we have to get everything right now and that it will be a difficult start against Croatia. We know it will be extremely hot and I don’t think the pitch will be particularly good.

Croatia are not a bad team at all – they beat Ukraine – so we know we have to be better and the heat is not going to help us.

Hiking and climbing to relax

After mentioning in my last column that it had been a long season and I was looking forward to some time off, I may have misjudged some of my postseason activities.

I spent a week relaxing in Mallorca, but I’ve been hiking ever since!

I was in the Lake District and we did some lovely walks there, then we went to Loch Lomond and climbed Ben Nevis, so I didn’t really have an off-season!

Ben Nevis was much harder than expected. I thought I would be able to climb it as I had been up Pen-y-Fan before, but it turns out Ben Nevis is much harder.

But I really enjoyed it. I haven’t hiked much yet, but I really enjoy it and would like to hike more.

I love being outdoors. I think a lot of young people are really into hiking – I see it a lot on TikTok. I think a lot of people prefer doing that to going out and having a drink.

My golf game has suffered a little from all the hiking. I am getting better, but progress is slow, especially in my social activities.

I’ve been a bit slow with my golf social media activity, but I think I now have a rival on TikTok in my Welsh teammate Lois Joel.

Hopefully she and I can play a game at camp soon.

My famous cousin … Henry Thomas

Many people don’t know about me and are surprised when they find out: I have a cousin, Henry Thomas, who is an international rugby player for Wales.

Henry is the son of my mother’s brother. Henry’s father is Welsh – everyone on that side of my family is Welsh.

Henry grew up in Bath but made his debut for Wales last year, ironically against England.

He has now returned to the Welsh squad, having signed for the Scarlets after a spell in France playing for Castres and Montpellier.

For me it is great to have another professional athlete in the family. He has always been very supportive of my career.

Obviously I don’t get to see him play that often – it’s an occupational hazard and also because he played in France – but hopefully I’ll get to see a few more games now that he’s playing in Wales.

Sometimes we are both in camp at the same time and it’s always great to see him.

No one else in my family is that sporty. Henry’s dad played rugby and Henry and I both played cricket at a pretty high level, so it’s great to be able to talk to him about it.