LET’S JUMP BACK IN THE EURO ZONE
McCall recalls jousting with giants and hopes Scotland can navigate a rather more complex path to finals
The Dutch had four world-class players — Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Bergkamp — and they all combined for the winning goal
STUART McCALL remembers a time when the qualification process for the European Championships was a much simpler — and harder — affair. Today in Dublin, UEFA will stage the draw for the 2020 finals, a process full of caveats and clauses that will rival the Brexit negotiations for complexity.
Scotland are seeded in Pot Three but SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell and national coach Alex McLeish will observe safe in the knowledge that they have already secured the safety net of a play-off thanks to a successful Nations League campaign.
In all, 24 of the 55 member countries will progress to contest a tournament to be played across 12 host cities — and the odds suggest Scotland should be in attendance to contest the two matches slated for Glasgow.
McCall was part of the first Scotland team to qualify for the Euros in 1992. Hosted by Sweden, the tournament featured just eight nations, with giants like Italy and Spain failing to make the cut.
Andy Roxburgh’s team got there as group winners from a section including Switzerland, Bulgaria and Romania — all of whom would go on to reach the latter stages of the 1994 World Cup.
The section went to the wire and Scotland had already fulfilled their eight qualifiers when Romania and Bulgaria met in a winner-takes-all clash in Sofia.
Inspired by Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgaria would reach the semi-finals in the USA two years later but could not do enough to overcome a Romania team for whom Gheorghe Hagi was the main man.
‘I remember watching that one with my tartan scarf round the neck,’ reflects McCall. ‘We needed them to draw to get us through and it was nice to see it work out because Scotland hasn’t always benefited from that kind of good fortune.’ Scotland were drawn to play the Netherlands, a newly reunified Germany and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) that temporarily succeeded the Soviet Union team. ‘We played Holland in the first game and they had four world-class players in the team,’ remembers McCall. ‘Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard and Bergkamp — all four combined for the winning goal. We played well and, as tough as the result was, at least we walked off knowing we had been beaten by class. ‘Then we went on to play Germany and that was our best performance of the tournament. We weren’t renowned for being free-flowing or high scorers yet we created five really good chances. They were strong but we took the game to them and felt gutted at losing 2-0, a result that put us out.
‘It was then on to play the CIS. They had Alexei Mikhailichenko and Oleg Kuznetsov in the team and I remember seeing them in the tunnel.
‘Their plan all along had been to pick up something from the first two games and then beat us in the last match to qualify. They told us they had the champagne ready and yet we went out there and got all our luck in one game.
‘Paul McStay hit the post and the ball went in off the keeper’s head. Brian McClair had one that deflected in and then we got a penalty. That was nice because the fans had been terrific over in Sweden and it was great to give them something to celebrate.’ UEFA expanded the Championships to 16 teams for the 1996 tournament in England. Now under the management of Roxburgh’s former assistant Craig Brown, Scotland got there as group runners-up to Russia.
Once more, McCall started all three group games — the first of which felt like a home fixture in Birmingham.
‘It was special to be playing the games down the road and Holland at Villa Park was memorable for the crowd,’ continues McCall. ‘You had the colour of the Dutch at one end, all orange, and the rest was just Tartan Army. The game wasn’t anything special but we got a hard-fought draw, a decent point to take into the next match.’
The second fixture passed into international folklore. Alan Shearer gave England the lead but Paul Gascoigne’s clincher came off the back of a penalty-spot miss from Scotland captain Gary McAllister.
‘We gave as good as we got at Wembley,’ remarks McCall, now
managing south of the border with Scunthorpe United. ‘Everyone remembers Gary Mac’s miss but I remember looking over and England were preparing to take Gazza off when we got the penalty.
‘They held off, Gary Mac hit the penalty, David Seaman dived with his right hand and it hit his left elbow. From the corner they go up the pitch and Gazza scores one of the best goals of the Championships.
‘We went into the last game with a chance to qualify, so it was nice to beat Switzerland.
‘Nobody expected England to score four against Holland and we were heading through… it’s just a pity David Seaman couldn’t keep his legs shut and Patrick Kluivert made it 4-1 to put us out. That’s the thing. When we went to those tournaments, the question on everybody’s minds was whether we could make it to the knockout stage. Now it’s whether we can qualify at all.’ A part of Gordon Strachan’s coaching team during the Euro 2016 qualifiers, McCall has very recent experience of the national team’s frustrations. The baton has since passed to McLeish and, should tonight’s draw serve up something nasty, the nine Nations League points earned against Albania and Israel have secured the fall-back of a play-off semi-final (probably at home to Finland) in the spring of 2020. ‘It’s going to be difficult to qualify from Pot Three,’ observes McCall. ‘Chances are you will draw a really big hitter and then there are those secondseeded teams too. ‘We’re improving and we should be targeting one of those play-off spots but there’s no guarantee. If that doesn’t work out, we might have to turn to the Nations League play-offs. Can we beat Finland at Hampden? You’ve got to say yes. Then we’d need to back ourselves in the final. ‘It’s been too long, so, whatever it takes, I hope we do it.’