England aren’t that far ahead of us
When you look at the bigger
Craig Brown reckons, but for a couple of mad seconds, the conversation about Scotland never reaching major Finals these days wouldn’t be happening.
And he believes that our years in the wilderness will soon come to an end. Brown led the Dark Blues to the 1998 World Cup Finals in France, their last appearance in a Finals.
Fast forward 19 years to Saturday, June 10, 2017.
As regulation time ran out in the World Cup qualifier against England, Hampden Park was a scene of wild celebration.
Two stunning free-kicks from Leigh Griffiths had the Dark Blues 2-1 up on a side which, 13 months later, would be in the World Cup’s final four.
A misplaced ball from Stuart Armstrong and a piece of Harry Kane opportunism later, and the Tartan Army were left mourning the loss of One Lion on the shirt, Tartan Army greetin’, twenty years of hurt, should we stop believing?
We’ve asked a former Scotland manager, our most-capped player, an EX-SFA chief executive and a top coach. what would have been an historic victory.
Brown continues to look back on that day with huge regret.
“I think England were the luckiest team alive that day,” he said.
“We had them beaten through two amazing goals from Leigh, only to let them scrape a draw with a fluke of a goal.
“If that hadn’t happened, then I think we would have made it through, I really do, because it would have changed the entire complexion of the table. “The win would have given us so much momentum. That would either have taken us to top spot in the table, or got us through the play-offs.
“We weren’t the strongest we have ever been, but there was plenty of talent there.
“For starters, I would take our full-backs – Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson – ahead of Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier. “People have been raving about England during the World Cup. But if you ask me, I would say they only did okay. “They beat Tunisia and Panama. Well, with respect, you would have to expect that.
“They lost to Belgium, in a game that admittedly didn’t matter, and only got past Sweden on penalty-kicks. “Colombia? Fair enough. But then I wasn’t too impressed with the performance against Croatia in the semi-finals.
“They started well enough, but were poor in the second half, giving the opposition too much time and space. “So when you look at the bigger picture, I really don’t