NO HOME COMFORT FOR SCOTS
Clarke’s disjointed troops fail to get better of play-off opponents
ISRAEL last night fired a stark warning to Scotland ahead of next month’s vital Euro 2020 play-off between the sides.
Ryan Christie’s first-half penalty looked to have got Steve Clarke’s men off to a winning start in their Nations League campaign at Hampden.
The Scots appeared to have settled for the one goal when Eran Zahavi stunned them with a superb second-half equaliser.
And last night’s draw will give Willi Ruttensteiner’s side a huge confidence boost ahead of the play-off semi-final at the same venue on October 8. The Scots now head to Olomouc for Monday’s Nations League clash with the Czech Republic.
Both sides were banging their heads against a brick wall
IN this year of settling for whatever we can get, this age of lowered expectations and drastically curtailed hopes, a scrappy draw against limited opposition feels terribly on trend.
No frills, no fans, not much fun. Honestly, this had better not represent a taste of things to come at next month’s Euro play-off semi-final between this pair.
If last night’s tussle was any indicator, even the most devoted of Tartan Army diehards will be hoping that lockdown keeps them locked out of Hampden for The Big One.
Oh, there were positives, for sure. Kieran Tierney proving that he’s the best defender Scotland has produced in a very, very long time. Not that we had any doubt.
Lyndon Dykes looking lively, at least, as he moved beyond the point of no return and committed himself to us for life. The loveable fool.
Little flickers and hints of quality from players who, let’s be honest, struggled with the lack of atmosphere.
If it helps, they should know that those left watching from the uncomfortable luxury of their armchairs also struggled to get going. For obvious reasons.
Think about it. If you were among the many who queued up at Hampden to see AC/DC, Bruce
Springsteen, Beyonce or the Stone Roses, would you have been satisfied simply to watch a livestream of your favourites run through their set in an empty stadium?
Even if you paid those artists millions to turn up and play to a deserted venue, could they really get as hyped-up for the big show?
Scotland’s lack of recent success notwithstanding, these footballers know what it’s like to have their very own ‘rockstar moment’ in the national stadium. They knew what they were missing last night.
All day yesterday, folk were sharing a little highlights clip of James Forrest’s hat-trick against the Israelis almost two years ago now.
The best thing about the footage from that magical night? The scenes, absolute scenes, in the stands as Scotland fans went mental with joyous delight. That’s what we were missing.
Now, admittedly, even a full house comprised entirely of tanked-up members of the noisiest TA battalion might have struggled to raise a cheer — never mind the roof — during a first half of low quality.
The fact that neither team had played for ten months showed, certainly, as both sides seemed intent on the footballing equivalent of banging their heads against a brick wall.
Why, exactly, did Israel persist in attacking down Scotland’s left? It takes a special sort of football brain to look at an area of the park occupied by Tierney and Andy Robertson and think: ‘Yep, that’s the soft spot.’ Not that Scotland could talk. Until Dykes showed a bit of street smarts to win a header from a corner, enabling equally astute team-mate John McGinn to nick the ball — and a penalty — by a matter of milliseconds, they’d offered little in the final third.
The second half was more open, at least. Not sparkling but not quite so dreary.
And, hey, this single point could be crucial to our Nations League campaign, right? Right?
Yeah, we know. This tournament remains a hard sell. Even in Scotland, where we have every reason to be grateful for it.
As much as punters appreciate the gift of a sideways shot at qualifying, most are understandably confused by the format.
Look, it’s very simple. There was an excellent idiot’s guide to the slightly tweaked competition in Thursday’s Sportsmail.
Anyone who can understand the background material to Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time — or, indeed, rugby’s new European Champions Cup format — will have taken no more than six solid hours’ study to get a grip on football’s most unpopular international competition.
The rest of you will just have to take the boffins’ word for it. When Scotland go marching out to play in history’s first hermetically-sealed World Cup in Qatar a couple of years from now, we’ll look back on this night as the turning point.
You don’t always know when you’re watching history being made. Maybe a home draw with Israel will turn out to mean something, however meaningless the experience might have felt.
It had been a weird sort of experience all day, hadn’t it? No finalising travel plans, ticket pickups and pre-match socialising arrangements. No triple-checking of train times to prepare for a) an early departure at 3-0 up, b) staying for a post-game pint in the event of said one-sided triumph, c) the fastest way home after a horrible gubbing.
But, then, we’ve given up so many ‘ordinary’ aspects of our daily lives. Scotland fans could hardly claim a special exception.
None of the foot soldiers have even been to a club game since March. It’s been so desperate for some that they’ve actually started speaking to their families.
Still, there was a pang in this sportswriter’s blackened heart when a reminder popped up on the phone, reminding us that it would take 58 minutes to get to Hampden because ‘traffic is light’. No, really?
The event should have been scratched from the diary weeks ago, obviously. Because the idea of actually letting punters into this one, with talk of the fixture becoming a ‘test event’ as a prelude to a proper crowd at the play-off, always felt like a fantasy.
With Glasgow since having been put on the naughty step, well, the SFA will be lucky if the Scottish Government let ball boys into the big one next month. Sure, you may query the logic behind the lockdown for football. Wonder, perhaps, how folk breaking rules about house parties results in the people’s game being given another boot in the Mitre size fives.
Haven’t you been paying attention? It’s always football’s fault. And it’s just so easy to punish the soccer oiks even if the fault lies elsewhere.
A TV experience from the comfort of the sofa it was, then. A night to lie back and think of Scotland. And think, as we have done so often these past six months, about what might have been.