Performance School system is helping the Young Lions roar
Over the last two-and-a-half years, Scotland have taken the scalps of Germany, France, Spain, Brazil and England at youth level.
During the same period, the country’s senior team has lost to Costa Rica, Israel, Peru, Mexico and Kazakhstan.
If the disparity between the sets of results is startling, the strides being made by Scotland’s young footballers does at least offer hope for the future.
The most-recent of the successes came at Firhill last Tuesday night where the Under-19s beat Germany to book their place in the Elite Round of qualifiers for next summer’s European Championships.
It was a hugely-impressive victory against a young German team that had beaten Belarus 9-2 just days earlier, and it came courtesy of a terrific goal.
Josh McPake, of Rangers but on loan at Dundee, raced on to a clever reverse pass by Aberdeen’s Dean Campbell, and shimmied past his marker before smashing the ball into the net.
For SFA performance director Malky Mackay – who proudly stated that all of Europe would take notice of Scotland’s win – the fact both players are already first-team regulars was not a coincidence.
The value to the country’s best young players of competing in the senior game could not, he argued, be understated.
Certainly, Ross Wilson, Rangers new sporting director, could be forgiven for hoping the young talent on show from his club could make his job that bit easier.
McPake’s fellow Ibrox products, Kai Kennedy and Dapo Mebude, were both very lively up front, and James Maxwell caught the eye as a defender with great discipline.
With Scotland’s great hope, Billy Gilmour – developed at Rangers before deciding to switch to Chelsea – there is clear evidence the Glasgow club’s youth system is working well.
Celtic’s new head of football operations, Nick Hammond, will likewise be looking for big things from Karomoko Dembele.
The disappointment from a Scotland perspective is that the 16-year-old has opted to represent England instead of Scotland, ending a period in which he turned out for both countries’ Under-16 and Under-17 teams.
More important, however, is the bigger picture, namely that the country’s young players are technically better than their predecessors.
Brought through the Performance School system, they are reaping the benefit of being able to work on their skills day and night.
That won’t guarantee results like the victory over Germany, a nation of 80 million people.
What it will do is continue to produce kids who are capable of going toe to toe with their peers from the best football nations.
Kids, comfortable in possession of the ball, who believe they can beat anyone through the quality of the football they play.
That is crucial because only by doing so will we have a chance of producing senior teams capable of delivering qualification to World Cup and Euro Finals.
And make nightmare results such as the collapse in Kazakhstan a memory from a time gone by.