LIGHT YEAR AWAY
Strachan’s amazing comeback
QUITE simply amazing. On Sunday it will be exactly one year to the day when this World Cup dream looked dead.
Freezing and bored, the Tartan Army sat through an absolutely turgid 90 minutes against Lithuania.
James McArthur’s last-gasp equaliser salvaged a point but hope had left the building.
The performance was awful. One paced and lacklustre. Gordon Strachan telling everyone afterwards Chris Martin had a stormer was just adding insult to injury.
The campaign was gone, the manager looked gone. The striker looked a dud. Who knew?
That was October 8, 2016. On October 8, 2017 Strachan and his squad can complete one of the most astounding transformations in the history of the national team.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin was given a guided tour of Hampden this week to approve the place for Euro 2020.
Let’s hope the hospitality offered to the Slovenian by the SFA was good because we’re now heading over to his place looking to have Russia 2018 rubber-stamped as well.
Lovely Ljubljana this weekend is now going to be a stress fest. And what a wonderful feeling that is to have. Strachan’s got this bandwagon well and truly rolling and it is smashing through everything in its path.
If this appears slightly exuberant, no wonder. It almost defies belief. A bit like imagining a Scotland team wearing pink at Hampden.
If you wanted Strachan out of the door a year ago, no one could have argued with you.
He was flying at the outset of his reign yet got bogged down in the middle of the Euro 2016 bid and lost his way.
From soaring against Ireland, the zany and over-complicated system fielded against Gibraltar sparked a chain of events that led to missing out on the play-off and the hangover got worse during the start of this World Cup bid.
Strachan’s sightings of the physical lone striker system used by a host of teams during the Euro finals caught his attention. He bought into it and persisted with Martin as a sole frontman when he returned.
It didn’t work and the fact Strachan made it his business to tell punters it did, especially after that heavy-legged dourfest with Lithuania, only served to agitate the Tartan Army.
But Strachan was big enough to see it was going wrong and he fixed it. He has changed his approach and the fruits were evident from the start, even if
we did lose to England at Wembley in November.
There was a throwback last night in the team selection to the bad old days.
Barry Bannan and Darren Fletcher reunited in the middle just like Trnava 12 months ago but it was enforced and perhaps the way it worked and the way the team performed epitomised the change in vibe.
Scotland were good in the opening period. But for a couple of terrific saves, they’d have led.
It just needed a cutting edge but the picks were right. Leigh Griffiths is now a proper No.9. A leader of the line.
James Forrest had his best game for Scotland in ages and when Strachan changed him for Chris Martin in an even better second half the sub rasped the bar. The second period was passionately brilliant. The ending wondrous.
Martin won a free-kick for Griffiths to hit the bar. Backheeled for James Morrison to force a third fabulous stop from Martin Dubravka.
Then put Slovakia skipper Martin Skrtel under pressure to turn the ball into his own net.
Transition, transformation, energy and enthusiasm have been injected into the scene. Before last night Strachan had won 11 competitive games in two-and-a-half campaigns.
But that’s not the 11 that should focus the mind going forward even beyond Sunday. It’s the 11 future stars he’s brought into the fold who hold the key to making Euro 2020.
Griffiths, Kieran Tierney, Andrew Robertson, Stuart Armstrong, John McGinn, Callum McGregor, Ryan Fraser, Callum Paterson, Tom Cairney, Oliver Burke and Kenny McLean.
Eleven boys who have been introduced to the set-up on Strachan’s watch.
Some will hold sway in Slovenia on Sunday and others will hold sway when decisions are made by both the man himself and the SFA over the chances of the boss leading the squad into a third full schedule.
He’s been responsible for trusting these boys. Giving them the chance to save this situation.
Age has played a part. They have been maturing at the right time but now have valuable experience and Strachan can use that to his advantage as opposed to passing the good work on to a successor. Qualifying for this World Cup was always going to be tough. The fact we still have a shot going into the final contest is almost a success in itself.
The Euros in 2020 is a different scenario. Two places available from each of 10 groups and a real opportunity. The new Nations League, devised to replace international friendlies, kicks in for the next campaign and Scotland now have a second route into the 2020 finals.
A year ago we were staring wistfully at that set-up, wishing it would start. Now it’s on the backburner.
The World Cup dream is alive and Slovenia holds the key.
Last year October 8 was a date to hate. This year it could be a date that is great.