So England are out too. To be honest, and this is going to sound like a bitter Scotsman (too true), they never deserved to go through on not just tonight’s performance but their performance through out the whole qualifying stages. To be given a second chance by Israel and then blow it tonight on home soil with a real lack of guts and determination is pretty shocking.
McClaren was also pretty surprising. His demeanour was of a man sucked of any confidence or drive. Maybe that’s pressure, the press, the job. For whatever reason, he doesn’t look like a man to lead an international team. Standing with that brolly on the touchline trying to stay dry - nothing wrong with it really but it just sent out the wrong image. I guess it’s bye bye for him.
So no home nations at Euro 2008. Great attempts at qualifying from Northern Ireland and particularly Scotland. Terrible effort from Wales, Rep of Ireland and in particular England though. Room for a home nations tournament next year perhaps? Our footballers haven’t much else to do.
One last thought. Why is the Wembley pitch in such a bad state? For a stadium to cost THAT much money and have THAT bad a playing surface is a disgrace. To blame NFL and concerts is a bit rich. It cut up badly in the FA Cup final and has never looked in any way decent for a stadium with such a proud history.
Never has a football game been more looked forward to than tonight’s Scotland - Italy match. All week I’ve been getting more and more excited about it, more and more drawn in to the drama and passion surrounding it. Flower of Scotland has never been sung more louder at Hampden I reckon. Never have I felt so cheated and so down after a game of football.
We got off to the worst possible start and lost a really soft goal. To many not paying attention, Toni given too much room. At times we looked a real second best and a cracking Gordon save followed by a great decision by the linesman kept the score 0-1 going in to half time. But we had hope. Hutton came close and Weir’s header was cleared of the line. Second half was certainly better for Scotland. Hutton started to make the run’s we’ve become used to, Brown roamed as the game opened up and from a poor free kick we scrambled an equaliser. I went mental!! We had another glorious chance that McFadden just couldn’t connect cleanly with but it looked like a great draw for us and a nail biter on Wed as France went to Ukraine looking for a win. Italy brought on a defender and we seemed to have defended a late attack as Hutton covered in defence and then got fouled on the ball. WHAT? Crazy decision. The ref (bastardo) gave the Italians the free kick and they promptly scored. Game over, Scotland failed to qualify again.
I’m still gutted, almost empty at the loss. However it would be too easy to dwell on negatives, to familiar to adopt the unlucky loser mentality. Scotland have had a great campaign, one of their best ever and if it wasn’t for the group of death we were drawn in then who knows. To get to the position we were in tonight with three of the top ten teams in the world, the world cup runners up and the world cup holders is amazing and the whole Scotland team, past and present management and especially the supporters should take a huge amount of credit and also a massive amount of confidence into the soon to be drawn world cup campaign. Bring it on!
It’s early days but a brilliant start to the game. To be two goals up within 10 minutes is unbelievable. Hopefully they can keep a clean sheet until half time. Two set pieces, two goals. Fantastic.
Update - another great win! It was looking a bit dodgy at 2-1 but McFadden stepped up again to give us a third. 24 points with two games to go. An unbelievable position but heartbreaking that we will likely need more than 3 points out of Georgia away and Italy at home to go through. The run of form has been tremendous and never did I think we would top a group containing Italy, France and the Ukraine.
Around two and a half years ago we were ranked 88th in the World. 18 months ago that had risen to 72. February this year saw us break into the top 20. We’re now ranked 13th which will make a massive difference to the World Cup qualifying campaign…but never mind that - there’s a Euro Championship place in our hands. Roll on Wednesday night.
What an amazing result. One of the best from Rangers in a long time, and easily their best result in Europe in recent years. Certainly the most surprising result in the Champions League tonight and also the best performance by a British team. We rode our luck at times but good defence and clinical finishing won the night.
So we’re joint top of the group with Barcelona. Suddenly talk is of qualification and what results we need to go our way. Great times that will hopefully lift their domestic performance. Bring on Barca…gulp!
Who would have believed it. Scotland have won in Paris, they’ve taken six points off the French in the qualifying campaign and we’re now top of Group B on 21 points, one ahead of Italy (current world cup holders) and two ahead of the French (world cup finalists). Unreal. Totally justified, and some great team spirit have got us there.
Top of the Shop. Top of the Shop.
That was Jim White at the end of the game last night. Great quote. Happy days.
Three games to go in the group of death and now we’re saying surely we’ll qualify instead of thinking…if only. Ukraine at Hampden, Georgia away and then finally Italy back in Glasgow are all that stands between us and Euro 2008. I’ve still got doubts as that’s three really tough games but it’s in our own hands for a change.
I’m loving seeing Raymond Domenech getting so up tight about the loss too. Ball boys in Glasgow were the reason the French lost at Hampden. What will tonight’s excuse be? Lucky win? They were robbed? Who cares…you were stuffed good and proper by a great team effort, some superb defence, a little bit of luck when needed and a gallus strike from James McFadden.
To think it was only 5 1/2 years ago that Scotland got done over in Paris in Berti’s first game. How times have changed. A big pat on the back to the players and also Walter Smith and Alex McLeish for restoring pride to the team and the nation. A bit gushing but I loved that game tonight. I was on the edge of my seat at the end and dancing round the room at the final whistle. Happy, happy days.
