SCOTLAND CAN’T PLAY ENGLAND EVERY WEEK

ENGLAND are unbeaten, topped their group, are one of just two teams at the tournament yet to concede a goal and everyone is furious. Scotland finished bottom, lost both of their matches at home, accrued one point, scored one goal and failed to make it out of the group for their 11th straight tournament, the last of which was in a previous century. Of course, optimism abounds. ‘It’s just the beginning of us qualifying for tournaments,’ announced Kieran Tierney (right), and with 24 teams at the European Championship and 16 going to the bloated World Cup in 2026, maybe he’s right. Yet when just 16 made it to the Euros the Scottish Football Association lobbied UEFA hard for expansion because they could never get in. And only 13 are being sent from Europe to Qatar in 2022. After three matches, Scotland are already four points behind Denmark having drawn in Israel and at home to Austria. The only team they have beaten are the Faroe Islands. We all saw how Scotland played at Wembley last week and it was impressive. One-off games, however, are not a campaign. It can’t be England every week.