Scots looking rank rotten on major stage

FOR a nation whose inhabitants seem to spend a fair bit of their time talking about football and watching games live or on TV, our record in international football is far from special.

Our national side is currently listed 52nd on the FIFA ranking list, behind England (4th), Wales (23rd), the Republic of Ireland (28th) and Northern Ireland (48th). As we all know we have not qualified for the finals of a major tournament since 1998.

Five World Cups and five European Championships on the trot we’ve been absent for.

Over the years, Scotland have also had some decent results, two of which took place on the 14th of this month.

The first was way back in 1936 when, only months after hosting the Berlin Olympics, Germany travelled for a friendly against the Scots at Ibrox.

Scotland, captained on the day by Ronnie Simpson’s father Jimmy, centre-half of Rangers, won 2-0 – both goals being scored by Celtic’s right-winger Jimmy Delaney.

Then, in 1987, Belgium arrived at Hampden for a Euro Championship qualifier.

Scotland, under manager Andy Roxburgh, were already out of the competition. They sat fourth in Group Seven behind Republic of Ireland, Bulgaria and Belgium but had a fine 2-0 victory – the goals coming from Paul McStay and Ally McCoist.

Unfortunately, the 4-0 defeat by Russia – ranked 42nd – on Thursday evening will have damaged our status and pushed us down a few places on the FIFA list.

It was one of those ‘games of two halves’ in the Luzhniki Stadium. Up to half-time we seemed to be coping fairly comfortably. Then, after the break, the roof fell in.

Steve Clarke has only recently come into the job but is already under fire for his team selection against the Russians.

Certainly, when you have two players in your squad performing well for their club – James Forrest and Ryan Christie – then it might seem logical to pick them.

On the other hand, the manager will have his own views on these matters.

The result is a blow to our egos and morale will be low. Now Clarke must pick the players up for San Marino.