We expected Peru’s players on a bath chair or wearing cardigans
Forty years on, Stuart Kennedy recalls a rude awakening in South America...
FOR Stuart Kennedy, confidence was a strong ally in his game. A sprinkling of arrogance was rarely ruinous for him, either, and something of a positive, too, as he backed himself in battles of speed and wits with many a winger.
But mix in a lack of information with the over-inflated belief filtering down from the manager and one very dangerous cocktail overflowed — and not only on Kennedy’s side of the pitch — to sink Scotland in Cordoba in 1978 as a World Cup nightmare began against Peru.
Forty years on, Kennedy waved Alex McLeish off to South America assured of one thing. That his great friend and second-time national manager will be better briefed and prepared for a friendly featuring a raft of reserve call-ups than Ally MacLeod was for the Finals opener on Scotland’s supposed route to conquering the world in Argentina.
Part of McLeish’s blueprint is glowing reports on Lewis Stevenson from 64-yearold former Falkirk and Aberdeen defender Kennedy, who stood in for the injured Danny McGrain to earn a handful of caps from the start of 1978.
It’s hard to imagine a debut at the age of 30 on Tuesday night in Lima proving any more harrowing for Stevenson than the events surrounding a sorry 3-1 defeat suffered by Kennedy and company.
A friendly with Bulgaria and Home Internationals against Wales and England were personally encouraging for the man signed by MacLeod for Aberdeen. ‘Ally could spot a player, obviously,’ he noted. ‘And he could get dressing-room morale lifted. But, maybe tactically, he did appear a bit short. I mean information about Peru.’
Scotland travelled on a wave of optimism that was entirely misplaced when sat alongside the slipshod preparations, selection errors, tactical mishaps and general ignorance about the dangers lurking within the opposition.
The groundwork was barely strong enough to send Scotland into a 14th-minute lead from Joe Jordan and sufficiently flimsy to contribute to the collapse hinted at by Cesar Cueto’s equaliser two minutes before the interval. MacLeod’s men then lurched towards all-out crisis when Don Masson had a penalty saved just after the hour mark.
Teofilo Cubillas booked his place in Scottish football infamy with two stunning goals in the 71st and 77th minutes. Wasn’t he supposed to be among a team too old to make an impact, eight years on from
Peru reaching the quarter-finals in Mexico?
Er, yes, according to all the information downloaded to Kennedy, who was faced by the jet-fast Juan Carlos Oblitas on his side while Martin Buchan, converted to the left, suffered with Juan Munante.
‘We were led to believe they were a kind of ageing team that wouldn’t cause us much bother,’ recalled Kennedy. ‘I liked to go on the park armed with a lot of information. Alex Ferguson told you what type of toothpaste the winger brushes his teeth with. Over the top, but you’re getting reams of info.
‘We didn’t really get that against Peru. I don’t think the manager was able to watch them. I was up against Oblitas. Very quick guy. I wasn’t aware of that. Maybe because our midfield wasn’t giving us protection, you must go in to allow the ball wide.
‘Now I normally don’t have a problem with that because I was a quick guy myself but he’s had two or three yards of a start — and he didn’t need them. So I had my work cut out with this guy and Martin was out of position on his side. We didn’t expect flying machines. In fact, we were led to believe it
was more likely they’d come out on bath chairs or be wearing cardigans.’
The bonus for Oblitas, too, was that Kennedy (below) felt strangely sluggish from the off. He admitted: ‘It was really tense. You play for your club, play in cup finals, play other international games. Then you play in the World Cup.
‘To digest that, a bit of tension goes through you. I made a couple of runs and thought: “Oh, the legs might be a bit heavy here”. Maybe it’s a long, hard season, maybe tension. You run it off but it’s not working. What’s that down to, the occasion?
‘I’d like to feel sharp from the word go. But the body and brain tells you the magnitude of it and it can be a weight. I was surprised by myself there, I must admit, because I’m fit, conscientious beyond the call of duty. Recovery was my side of the game.’
With Masson and Bruce Rioch favoured in midfield, it was Scotland persevering with the players in their 30s for too long it seemed. Rioch, the captain, and Masson were replaced by Lou Macari and Archie Gemmill at 2-1.
Promised an ageing team that would not cause us much bother
‘I thought it was remarkable that you could play any Scotland game without Graeme Souness in the middle of the park,’ said Kennedy. ‘We lacked defensive cover all game. Masson and Rioch had obviously impressed the manager in the campaign and he tended to be loyal. ‘But if I’ve got this 25-year-old guy called Souness who wins the ball, uses it, covers and protects you. I’ve got to look at that. Maybe Ally was better left as a club manager, I don’t know. I had a lot of affection for him. But a guy like Souness getting left out? I’m not catching that.’ Macari’s introduction was just in time for him to hook up with Kennedy to be a block of the wall beaten by the brilliance of Cubillas and his gracefully audacious set-piece spun by the outside of the right boot. ‘I’d made a great tackle, coming up with the ball,’ recalled Kennedy. ‘The ref had given us a penalty, then gave them a free-kick. It was on for a right-footed player to go far corner and yet he went to the other side with his right. It was some effort.’ Kennedy was laid low after that defeat. And not just on the team coach to avoid the objects hurled at the windows. A bug ruled him out of the Iran debacle and he was back in, with Souness, for the Gemmill-inspired win over Holland.
Kennedy doesn’t expect any such gung-ho approach from McLeish’s Scotland this week. In fact, when facing a Peru team revving up for their first World Cup Finals since Spain in 1982, it might be wise for an inexperienced Scotland group to be content with containment.
Kennedy added: ‘I worry for the big man because I know what he’s like. Alex is a big, proud guy and he’ll be professional to the last. He’s had a lot of call-offs, which you need to expect. He’s not got the squad he wants. If there’s a World Cup coming up, you’re not calling off from that.
‘But I understand the Celtic players feeling it’s not in their legs to go and play friendlies in South America. I get a bit of that. Some might be genuine. He’ll have players who’ll know they’re not first choice. They won’t want to let anyone down.
‘Alex will get a system and get the players to adhere to that system. He won’t go out there to be whipping boys. Where are they going to hurt us? Let’s stop that. The big man is a scholar and he’ll know Peru’s pluses and minuses.
‘He’s got a reserve type of team against nations that have qualified for the World Cup. Their squads will be trying to impress to be in the starting line-ups when in Russia. It’s maybe damage limitation for Alex here.’