WE’RE TOO SMALL TO JOIN THE BIG BOYS
Strachan blames World Cup failure o
FOR Scotland this was a desperate way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. A World Cup play- off place firmly in their grasp, there are no excuses or mitigation for what happened here. A night which promised so much ended like so many of the others. Failure.
Pipped for second place by Slovakia on goal difference, the inquest will be long and bruising. Where Scotland are concerned, much of this feels horribly familiar. A poor start to the campaign, when they won just four of a possible 12 points, proved ruinous.
Many wanted manager Gordon Strachan gone then and despite winning 14 of the last 18 points and finishing the campaign unbeaten in the final six qualifiers, the Scotland manager is back in an old movie now.
Facing questions over his team selections. Defending himself against accusations of misplaced loyalty after another qualifying campaign which promised much but ended the same way as the rest. Here, there was no lack of fight. But against a burly, nononsense Slovenia team there was a lack of height.
‘Genetically we are behind,’ said Strachan, pointing to the fact his side were outmuscled by the hosts. ‘In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain. We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things, maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do.
‘But it is a problem for us because we have to fight harder for every ball and jump higher than anyone else.
‘Nobody can tell me their technique, apart from one player, is better than any of ours. But physically we have a problem. We seem to be able to battle it and get through just with sheer determination and skill and work-rate. And that takes a lot out of you.’
A poor second-half display — when Slovenia substitute Roman Bezjak scored twice — proved their undoing. The defending for both goals was regrettable, the hope created by Leigh Griffiths’s opener wiped out by the 72nd minute.
Robert Snodgrass came off the bench and granted late hope with an equaliser as Slovenia captain Bostjan Cesar marked his 100th cap with a red card. There can be no question the loss of Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong weakened Scotland, as did a pre-match injury to James Morrison. Yet it was the same old story — failing to win a game there for the taking.
‘I have got to look after the players,’ said Strachan, who refused to be drawn on his future. ‘We are hurting, no one is hurting like the players, it’s impossible. What you have to do is analyse. You could say: “Och, you don’t use that system!” But it is only a theory. I am the only one who puts the theories into practice. You don’t know if it would have made a difference if you had played another system or another player. It might have been a lot worse. Nobody will ever know.’
Matt Phillips and Snodgrass had chances during the final minutes to snatch it. But the fatalism surrounding Scotland’s national team now feels immovable. The basis of a squad capable of reaching Euro 2020 certainly exists. Whether the current manager merits the chance to remain in charge is the question.
The anguish is heightened by the knowledge Scotland scored two goals in a country where England and Slovakia — the group’s top two — couldn’t score any. James McArthur’s looping header allowed Griffiths to creep in behind the Slovenia backline at the back post. Letting it bounce, the striker brilliantly despatched it low into the far left corner to give Scotland the lead. The goal seemed to change the narrative. At half-time they were in control of their own destiny, surviving a spell when Slovenia cut through a narrow four-man midfield. Srecko Katanec made some critical decisions at half-time, the biggest being the introduction of Roman Bezjak.
There was a sense of real injustice about the awarding of a desperately soft free- kick from which Bezjak scored his first as he guided the ball past Craig Gordon. Suddenly Scotland’s energy was gone. And there was an inevitability to what came next. The home supporters sensed it as Bezjak’s simple game 18 minut Snodgrass’s goal gave Scotland a glimmer of hope.
But it was all too late. As the final whistle blew, Strachan put his head in his hands. Pink jers turf. In the art of to fail, Scotland have become a world-class footballing power.