Only one Scot would even make England reserves XI... that’s Andy
Ahead of a supposed megamatch, it can be instructive to see how many players from each country would get into a combined XI. In the case of England v Scotland tonight, the result would be 10 Englishmen to one Scot.
If you really want to expose the gulf between the sides then play the same game with England’s reserves and Scotland’s starting XI.
The answer comes up the same. Ten Englishmen and Andy Robertson.
John McGinn might come close – as might a fully fit Kieran Tierney – but the facts are that at these Euros even England’s back-up crew is superior to Scotland.
Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford and Reece James did not make England’s starting line-up against Croatia on Sunday but they would walk into this Scotland team – transform it even.
In a straight race, tonight’s game is a sports car against an ice-cream van.
England has 10-times the population, so an imbalance is logical, but it hasn’t always been so pronounced.
Scroll back to 1977, and the Wembley goalposts manual-redesign by the Tartan Army. England would have been hard pressed to jemmy two or three players into the Scotland side
that day. Ray Clemence ahead of Alan Rough in goal, maybe, Trevor Francis up front and perhaps Dave Watson in defence – but that would have been it.
Scotland, with Kenny Dalglish at the head, had the monopoly on talent and made it count, winning the game and the Home Championship.
They used to do that regularly against the Auld Enemy.
In the oldest international football fixture, Scotland led in overall wins until England’s 1982 victory levelled the series at 39 each.
Since then, the Scots have won only twice in 14 attempts, and England have pulled away to lead by 48
victories to 41, with 25 draws. The power of the Premier League and the opportunities it offers for domestic players to learn from the best overseas players and coaches – plus the improvement in the development paths for youth players – has moved England on, while the Scottish game has withered on the vine.
At international level it has become a rivalry in name only.
Billy Connolly’s line that “Scotland has the only football team in the world that does a lap of disgrace” may not be true of this latest incarnation – they can be difficult to break
down at least – but their
NOVAK Djokovic’s quest for a Golden Slam this year suddenly does not seem so outlandish now Rafa Nadal has pulled out of Wimbledon and the Olympics. 2-0 opening defeat against Czech Republic at Hampden Park showed where they are at.
It is refreshing to see Scotland back at a major tournament and their presence undoubtedly adds to the fun of the fair, but they will do well to garner a single point from Group D.
The eternal fascination of team sport is that it does not necessarily follow that the side with the inferior individuals will lose.
Man for man, Iceland would not have won a single place in a composite team with England at the 2016 Euros, yet they still managed to eliminate Roy Hodgson’s side.
Organisation, commitment and an over-confident opponent can always lead to a surprise result.
England are a relatively young side and we will see how they cope with being overwhelming favourites in the pressure cooker of tournament football, but the air they gave off at their bucolic St George’s Park retreat this week struck the right balance. They were assured, without assuming anything.
Scotland will raise their collective game but there are limits.
If England don’t win at Wembley tonight, it will represent their worst result under Gareth Southgate.