SCOTS KEEN TO SHOW TRUE WORTH
CNN were in town and so too were Reuters. When Al Jazeera and Channel 4 also pitched up at Hampden, a World Cup play-off semi-final against Ukraine in June became more than a game of football.
The carnage unleashed on the streets of Mariupol and Kharkiv by Vladimir Putin was, of course, never the fault of Steve Clarke’s Scotland team. As Planet Football lined up in sympathy with Oleksandr Petrakov’s war-worn players, however, it felt like it.
The burden shouldered was not just emotional. While Ukraine players made the best of a hideous situation by holing themselves up in a Slovenian training camp for a month to get fit, Clarke’s team arrived in dribs and drabs after a staggered end to the season.
Captain Andrew Robertson came straight from a Champions League final to join team-mates who had finished their season two, sometimes three, weeks earlier.
Outclassed in a 3-1 defeat, hopes of a Scotland return to the World Cup finals for the first time in 24 years disappeared.
While the world of football rejoiced, Clarke made a silent promise to himself to make sure the preparations for tonight’s Nations League rematch between the sides in Glasgow at least offered his side a fighting chance.
‘The last game was a really unique situation where nobody sort of knew what to expect,’ he reflected yesterday. ‘Everybody says how good Ukraine are, they are a really good side.
‘I don’t think they caught us cold, but it was a unique game. It was just a build-up that didn’t suit us — for various reasons.
‘Some players finished in the first week in May, some in the second week.’
Originally scheduled for March, the game was pushed back three months. By the time it finally came around in June, it didn’t feel right to play it at all. The final choice had to be left to Ukraine. And, when they opted to go ahead, a starting XI with six players without a competitive game in six months embarrassed hosts who looked distinctly ill at ease.
‘We didn’t have any continuity into that camp, which is why the March window would have been better for us,’ said Clarke. ‘We were in a better frame of mind, we had good momentum.
‘It was a difficult window, and that’s not to make big excuses. We try not to do that, but we didn’t play to our level and if you don’t play to your level, then normally you get beaten. The only thing we can do to address that is play better this time. And if we play better this time and Ukraine play their level, then let’s see what the outcome is this time.’
A season which felt like it might never end concluded with the Scots racking up home and away wins over Armenia. Despite a 3-0 defeat to Ireland in Dublin, four points from six from home games against Ukraine and Ireland would raise hopes of securing another Nations League play-off.
It was not just how to tackle Ukraine on Clarke’s mind. How a sold-out Hampden will respond to a plan for a minute’s applause in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II was just one of the questions vexing those at the SFA last night. How fans might react to the return of Ryan Fraser to the fold another.
Last November, the Newcastle attacker withdrew from the squad for matches against Moldova and Denmark, citing a calf problem. Days later, Sportsmail carried pictures of him training with his club under new boss Eddie Howe.
His international future cast into doubt, Clarke chose to forgive and forget after a 10-month absence. Time will tell if the Tartan Army are of a similar mind.