If you were in any doubt, it seems there is no justice in this world. On the one hand you have Scotland, a team who have proven to be formidable opposition to the likes of France, Italy and Ukraine and on the other you have England, a team that have regularly failed to convince its supporters that it can beat anyone, regardless of stature.
For Scotland, sadly, qualification to Euro 2008 is now no longer possible. The 2-1 defeat to Italy on Saturday was enough to give their opponents enough points to edge out the Scots, and yet in that game, as with so many others during this competition, the Scottish players have shown enough creativity, fighting spirit and a will to win to almost earn a place in the Finals on merit alone.
For England, however, things no longer look quite as gloomy thanks to Israel's 2-1 win over Russia. Where previously the nation braced itself for the imminent elimination that a win for the Russians would have brought, now, rather surprisingly, a chance to qualify has reappeared. All England need to do is secure at the very least a draw at home to Croatia on Wednesday night and they can book their flight to Austria and Switzerland next year.
Frankly, the whole situation leaves me feeling a bit frustrated. If England had played as well as Scotland have done and were denied qualification to the Finals, I'd be feeling pretty bereft right now, and yet here I am supporting an England team lacking in sufficient levels of skill and desire that could well be taking their place.
My only hope is that McLaren's men call on their deepest reserves to play in the manner which we all want to see - that of a team which is strong in ability and ambition, one that wants to show the world that it can be the best in Europe.
Aside from the commiserations I pass onto the Scotland team and all its supporters, I have a message of hope for you. This Sunday, FIFA makes its Preliminary Round Draw for the 2010 World Cup and it's there that Scotland will find out which opponents they'll face as they attempt to qualify for the Finals in three years time. Regardless of who ends up in their group, I feel that Alex McLeish can get his team through to the 2010 World Cup, as long as he can continue the momentum that has carried his team thus far over the last couple of years.
I've no doubt that what we saw on Saturday wasn't the end of a sorry tale, merely the end of the beginning. If Scotland's trend of gradual improvement continues as it has every chance of doing, the end of the story will be a glorious one, not the rain-soaked affair we witnessed last weekend.
The good news for Scotland with regards to Sundays World Cup draw is that after recent results and their current FIFA ranking, they should get an easier draw than the one given to them for the European Championships.
ReplyDeleteGet your passports ready for South Africa.
OK! So who nobbled the ref and the linesman?
ReplyDeleteShould it have been a penalty? I say yes as the player clearly leaned into the ball.
Was that a free kick to Italy? Never in a million years!
The Scots were robbed.
As to England, I hope Friday is not an indicator of McClaren tactics.
I know we are missing Rio, Terry, Rooney & Owen, but we have had a reasonble run of results bar the Russian fiasco. Now it looks like the coach is going back to ultra successful midfield of Cole/Lampard/Gerrard/Beckham. I guess his thinking is that if they play together often enough, then one day it might work.
Alas, Scotland paid for their dismal qualifying performances since France '98 and ended up in a group which England would have been lucky to finish a poor third in. I'm sure no right thinking Scotsmen would want the sympathy of an Englishman but for what its worth they have it.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget though, the game is not over and the footballing gods may yet be saving the greatest humiliation to the last.
Why are Englishmen claiming/pretending to be cheering on the Scots, the auld enemy? I don't need to tell yous how the Jocks would have reacted had Russia won in Israel.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a Man Shitty fan you hardly want MU to get to the CL Final, do you?
Don't think anyone got robbed..They had their golden opportunity and they failed..besides that, the Scottish goal was offside. Not happy with it though..would be nice to have the Scots onboard.. oh well, I will try to find my orange cap now... as I will need it this summer :-)
ReplyDeleteSven / Kedge - I'm inclined to think that the referee was just poor in an absolute sense on Saturday, not towards one team in particular. At the end of the day, Scotland needed to score more goals than Italy through clear chances and sadly didn't manage to on the day.
ReplyDeleteOh and Sven, nobody likes a smartarse! ;-)
Kedge, I think McLaren was experimenting generally on Friday. What I'm more worried about is his inability to inspire the players. I don't know if it's my imagination, but most of the squad these days seem to be in a mental fog while they're out on the pitch...
You're quite right, Duffman - Scotland have wound up among the lower seeds of late, but hopefully this campaign will help to put that right, as Smart says.
Anonymous - all I'm saying is that I respect Scotland for the way they play and the spirit they embody. Just becuase I'm English, doesn't mean I have to automatically adopt a hatred for Scotland or any other team! I'm a *football* fan over and above everything else and just want to see good football being played...
Yeah..sorry about that, I'll put it away.. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe ref did not deserves his fee, I agree. Can't we put a bet on the England match for once? would love to see the options..
How can you not root for Scotland against opponents such as France and Italy? After all that has gone on with Italian football in the past 3 years, I would be happy to see them fail for all the black marks they have put on the game. And France are just smarmy and I don't like them. And as others have said, Scotland truly embodied a spirit which was matched by no other side I've seen in this competition.
ReplyDeleteO couldn't have put it better myself. When I heard the news that McFadden had missed a chance and Italy had scored on the last minute from the worst freekick decision ever, I almost felt disgraceful for being English.
ReplyDeleteEngland had a s**t easy group and are scraping through it whereas Scotland have a really tough group, with both world cup finalists and quarter finalists, but fought till the very end.
It isn't always the way that my hated teams always get lucky though (Argentina, Germany, Iraly and Spain have always been very lucky).
However when I watched highlights on MOTD i almost felt sick, good luck to you tartans, you will do well in South Africa.
How can you not root for Scotland against opponents such as France and Italy?
ReplyDeleteI used to live in France (Sedan is my team). Don't understand the smarmy reference. Additionally the Scots would have achieved NOWT in the Euros proper.
Scotland truly embodied a spirit which was matched by no other side I've seen in this competition.
Spirit in the bars o' Glasgae on Sat night, maybe. Think any Englishmen stayed indoors that night.
It isn't always the way that my hated teams always get lucky though (Argentina, Germany, Iraly and Spain have always been very lucky).
Evidence of that, please. Again, I went to uni in Spain and have always followed their progress closely - were they not absolutely robbed in Japorea '02?
.......I almost felt disgraceful for being English.
...when I watched highlights on MOTD i almost felt sick, good luck to you tartans, you will do well in South Africa.
I'm speechless.
Who ever Anonymous is, I would like to say this.
ReplyDeleteI don't see internationals the same way I would see local derby's.
Agreed Man City & Man U fans would rather die than ss thier rivals win anything.
And there have been some (maybe a lot) of Scots who would have been cheering Russia on Friday.
But to me, I would cheer any of the British teams as long as they are not playing england, and not in a position to knock England out of a competition.
I would over the moon it all 4 teams could qualify for the finals, and I am sure a lot of my fellow Englishmen would agree.
Like Chris O, I'm a foottie fan so if I have to pretend to be a Jock for the day then so be it.
Also I shall be cheering Northern Ireland on as well tomorrow. ( I hope that doesn't offend anyone in NI).
Allow me to qualify my statement about France. They are the Ryan Phillippe of European Football. Ok, they're good looking and a decent actor, but they're just so damned cocky about it. Nobody likes that.
ReplyDelete