If you’d like some idea of how Scotland’s long-awaited return to an international football tournament is going, consider this: it took less than an hour of play before the image of goalkeeper David Marshall leaping, despairingly, into his own net in a doomed effort to stop the Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick scoring a goal from the halfway line became a meme trending worldwide.
Marshall can now be found soaring from the top rope of wrestling rings, swinging through the air like Spiderman, sprinting past Usain Bolt to win the 100 meters, and, of course, you can relive what is already the goal of the summer to the Titanic soundtrack.
There’s little time to dwell on the highland horror-show, though, with the auld enemy England next, dauntingly, at Wembley. Many a dour Scot might look at England, who remain unbeaten for 12 consecutive games (excluding penalties), and decide this is another footballing year to write off.
Scotland’s strongest side just happens to be England’s weakest
But football has a funny way of working out, and a Scotland win might not be as far-fetched as you think.
England turned in a fairly turgid display against Croatia. Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips (yeah, me neither) played well, but the rest struggled. The weeks-long debate over which right back could defend better — Kyle Walker or Kieran Trippier —was solved when Gareth Southgate decided to start both of them. A brilliant idea, until it emerged that, let alone defend, neither appeared to know how to play at all.
The mystery of why Southgate initially selected four right backs in the squad, rather than the standard two, suddenly became clear.
Scotland, meanwhile, were not completely awful. One player in particular caught the eye, bombing up and down the left flank, putting in crosses before sprinting the length of the pitch to knock someone else off it: Captain Andy Robertson. Currently at Liverpool, ‘Robbo,’ when not giving big-name opponents a bit of Glaswegian hospitality, has consistently been one of the world’s best in his position for the past three years — which just happens to be the same side occupied by Walker and Trippier.
Scotland aren’t big on world-class players, but as luck would have it, their next best player also happens to play on the left: Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney. Injured for the game against the Czechs, he will likely come back in to provide cover behind Robertson against England. Fancy that, Scotland’s strongest side just happens to be England’s weakest…
But just because they aren’t all playing for Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, doesn’t mean the rest of Scotland’s team are a bunch of part-timers, either. Tierney’s defensive partners, Grant Hanley and Liam Cooper, are the captains of Championship-winning Norwich and Leeds, respectively. Scott McTominay has become a permanent fixture in midfield for Man Utd; John McGinn the same at Aston Villa. Billy Gilmour is the next big thing at Chelsea.
The days of Hansen, Strachan, Souness and Dalglish may be long gone, but it’s hardly the combined XI of East Fife and Forfar, either.
Though it may sting to hear it, the Scots could do worse than take a leaf out of the Czech playbook. Their last opponents weren’t streets ahead of them — just a bit more streetwise. Scotland, egged on by a ferocious home crowd, stormed into the first game, exposing themselves to early fatigue; the Czechs remained calm, kept their composure, and hit them first from a set-piece, and then on the counter-attack, without ever appearing to get tired.
England, at home, will also have to contend with the two sides of the coin of a partisan crowd: support, with the weight of expectation that comes with being overwhelming favourites to go out and perform. Scotland, their hopes of the knock-out stages already likely over, have no such pressure. Just the knowledge that they can spoil their biggest rival’s entire year by just keeping their heads, and targeting England’s headless right side.
Scottish history is defined by overcoming insurmountable odds against English opponents. In February, the Scottish national rugby team came to Twickenham and beat England there for the first time in 38 years. Might it have been a one-off — or the start of a trend?
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