OVIEDO’S KEY ROLE IN HAMPDEN TRIUMPH
SUNDERLAND LEFT-BACK SETS UP COSTA RICA’S ONLY GOAL TO SINK MCLEISH’S SCOTLAND
Sunderland defender Bryan Oviedo helped Costa Rica keep a clean sheet in last night’s friendly success against Scotland.
The Central Americans clinched a 1-0 victory at Hampden Park to boost confidence ahead of their World Cup finals adventure in Russia this summer.
It was a disappointing night for Alex McLeish, starting his second stint as Scotland manager, as Marco Urena scored the only goal with a well-taken strike in the 14th minute.
Amid an almost eerie atmosphere, the visitors looked neat and tidy and their opener was simple, with Oviedo getting free down the left and cutting it back for Urena to side-foot past keeper Allan McGregor with some assurance.
An experimental home side, who started with four debutants – Scott McKenna, Scott McTominay, Kevin McDonald and Oli McBurnie – found it tough going.
The expected raft of subs after the break, including a debut for Jamie Murphy, led to a more disjointed game with Scotland huffing and puffing until the end.
McLeish was pleased with his side’s second-half performance and said: “In the second half, we were a lot better than the first. In the first, we just seemed to be halfway there, but not the full distance. We did settle a little bit deep.
“The goal itself – there were three central defenders in the middle of the box but nobody engaged with the striker, who put the brakes on. It was a good cutback, a good piece of play – a 45-degree pass – and he punished us.
“We had a couple of chances in the second half and the difference was the clinical finish in the first half.
“I said before the game, when you look at a team on paper and you think ‘that’s a great team’, many times in my managerial career you’ve rotated the team in the cup game and thought ‘they’re a great team, there’.
“And we had that a wee bit in the first half.(We had) five new caps and it’s a building process.”
Scotland are back in action on Tuesday, away toHungary, and McLeish said he would make some changes.
He added: “We need not to let a goal in and we need to score. We have to be clinical.
“It’ll be a different team again and we’ll look at other players. It’s not competition, that’s why we experimented a little bit. I would love to have a great win ratio but sometimes we have to make some sacrifices and we’ve learned a lot. There’s a few things we can look at going forward.”