Scotland set for more pain despite Belgium injuries
The best news for Scotland ahead of tonight’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Belgium at Hampden Park is that the visitors will be without the brothers Hazard, both of whom are injured, while afflictions have also ruled out Vincent Kompany, Dedryck Boyata and Axel Witsel.
Usually, the loss of half an opposing outfield might encourage anticipation of a heartening night out for the Tartan Army. In this campaign, though, confidence was banished when the final whistle sounded on a lamentable opening defeat in Kazakhstan and has never been restored, despite the replacement of Alex Mcleish by Steve Clarke, the people’s choice as manager because of his feats against the odds while in charge at Kilmarnock.
For 20 minutes in the Scots’ meeting with Russia on Friday, it was possible to believe that Clarke had effected a bounce but, after John Mcginn’s first international goal, the team conceded territory and will to the Russians and finished 2-1 losers, an outcome that would have been much worse but for the form of David Marshall in the Scottish goal.
When the group was drawn, pundits and fans alike wrote off Scotland’s two games against Belgium as improbable sources of reward and the first meeting, a 3-0 defeat in Brussels in June, confirmed that prognosis. The equation could verge on humiliating this evening if the Belgians maintain their perfect record in the qualifiers. In that case, the Scots would stay behind Kazakhstan, who go to Russia, and would slump to second bottom place if Cyprus win in San Marino. Invited to assess the difficulty of the task he has taken on, Clarke said: “It’s every bit as big as I thought before I started. It’s a big challenge for us because we haven’t qualified for a long time so there’s a lot of pressure on us to do it.
“The reality of modern-day life in football is that everyone wants a quick fix. If you win three games you’re a genius and if you lose three games you’re an idiot. So, I just need to stay calm, look at the situation, try to prepare the team properly and work with the players to build a rapport and a relationship with them and keep working towards the end goal which is qualification.