As a Glaswegian, it’s essentially my civic duty to be pessimistic. For this reason, I feel a vague sense of horror at my current sentiment towards the Scottish national team.
Now, I have the good fortune to support a club side that is relatively successful, attempt to play fairly attractive, attacking football, and win things. It is for this reason that I have seen supporting the Scottish national side as a slight penance, something which I must do in order to make up for the extraordinary slice of luck I had in being born a Celtic fan. The first World Cup I remember is France 1998 – I turned 9 that summer, and remember with vivid horror Tom Boyd’s own goal that caused us to be beaten by Brazil in the opening game. Now, I recognise this as my first experience of what has become known as “glorious failure”. The other two games in that tournament – a 1-1 draw against Norway followed by a 3-0 humiliation at the hands of Morroco – come back to me in flashes only otherwise experienced after a particularly heavy night on the lash. Of course, if I’d known it’d be the first and only time I’d remember Scotland participating on a world level for a good long time, I’d probably have savoured it more. As it was, all I took from that tournament was a frankly unfair grudge harboured against Tommy Boyd. That OG. Man.
Fast forward 13 years to 2011. Scotland have recently finished playing in another massive tournament, known to lesser teams as the Celtic Cup. As a result of this tournament, we’ve been crowned “the best team in the United Kingdom apart from England”, and finished second to Ireland as “the best team in this general area apart from England.” Now, whilst this tournament seemed pointless to the masses, and I must admit, sometimes to me, in retrospect it did benefit Scotland in several ways. Decent wins against a Northern Ireland side, albeit afflicted with injuries, drop outs and David Healy, and particularly an impressive comeback against Wales, have sown the seeds of optimism for the future. New players like James Forrest, James McArthur, Craig Conway and Danny Wilson were included in the squads. Established players, particularly James Morrison, flourished. And in the last two games, against Wales and the Republic of Ireland, you could suggest players who were missing who would have very strong claims not only for a squad place, but for a starting berth – the likes of Darren Fletcher, Alan Hutton, Lee Wallace, Kris Commons, Craig Gordon, Shaun Maloney, Graham Dorrans, James McFadden and Steven Fletcher were all missing. Combine this quite astonishing level of strength in depth with the players who actually played in those games – the likes of the aforementioned Morrison, Scott Brown, Kenny Miller and Charlie Adam – and it’s not difficult to see why I’m feeling more optimistic about the future of the Scottish national team than I ever have before.
Now, the real challenge will come in our push for Euro 2012. With Liechtenstein quite amazingly managing to defeat Lithuania, Scotland must now win their two remaining home games, against Lithuania and the Czech Republic, and win away in Liechtenstein, whilst hoping Spain manage to beat the Czechs. It is doable – but I must end this article with a bit of realism. We are Scotland. We will no doubt play our hearts out against Spain away, and proceed to be hammered in Liechtenstein. It is our way.
But I am hoping that “glorious failure” is a thing of the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment