Double header with Auld Enemy as good as it got for precocious Burchill in national colours
MARK BURCHILL made his international debut at 19 and within six weeks had twice played against England.
A precocious Celtic striker who had scored goals in the same team as Henrik Larsson and Lubo Moravcik, Burchill thought his career was destined to be a succession of big club games and major tournaments with his country.
Little did he know that as he celebrated his 20th birthday he had already played his last game for Scotland.
Burchill won six caps between October 1999 and April 2000 but it’s the two European Championship play-off ties against the Auld Enemy that stand out.
‘Those games came very early in my career and I probably didn’t appreciate their magnitude,’ said Burchill, now 36. ‘At that age you take these things in your stride don’t you? You don’t realise how big they are.
‘I expected them to happen every year and we all expected Scotland to qualify. I expected to be playing for Scotland for years.
‘Looking back it was unbelievable for me to be on the pitch with that level of player when I was only 19.
‘I suppose it’s the same for most players — it’s not until you finish that you can look back and appreciate these things properly.’
Burchill had erroneously been hailed as Scotland’s answer to Michael Owen when the play-off ties came round but, with Craig Brown desperately trying to inject fresh pace into a stagnating forward line, he got his chance as a sub in both games.
In the first leg at Hampden he was sent on in place of Kevin Gallacher as Scotland chased down the two-goal lead provided by Paul Scholes. At Wembley he was effectively instructed to level the tie after Don Hutchison had put Scotland ahead on the night.
‘I can’t remember exactly what he said as I went on, probably something to do with trying to get in behind their defence, trying to work hard, the usual,’ said Burchill.
‘But Craig was very clever. You already knew what he was looking for before you went into a game and if he had any special instructions for me I wouldn’t have heard them because I was going on to the pitch to play for Scotland v England!
‘It was Tony Adams and Martin Keown on the Saturday and then Gareth Southgate played at Wembley.
‘To play against these guys was brilliant. We played well and probably deserved to get the two goals that would have levelled the tie.’