VALIANT SCOTS RAISE THE ROOF
Qatar dream alive as McTominay winner crowns a Hampden night to remember
WITH Hampden full and rocking for the first time since Covid stopped the world, it was utterly fitting that the old place should play host to a game for the ages.
Scotland have beaten Israel by a 3-2 scoreline before but, despite the familiarity of these teams, this was no remake of a tired movie, but a thriller of a match that soared from the first whistle and peaked with Scott McTominay’s stoppage-time winner.
Twice Scotland trailed but each time they fought back, first through John McGinn and even after the gut punch of a missed Lyndon Dykes penalty on the brink of half-time.
It was Dykes who got the show up and running again after the break and even that moment was soaked in drama as referee Szymon Marciniak chopped the goal off only to allow it after an intervention from VAR.
The upshot? Scotland’s dream of qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Qatar is alive and kicking.
With two eminently winnable away fixtures against the Faroe Islands and Moldova up next, second place in Group F and its attendant play-off place is Steve Clarke’s side’s to throw away.
No wonder the national coach set off on a victory sprint the moment McTominay bundled into the net.
Clarke found himself in the rare position of having a near full-strength squad of players to pick from. The only notable absentee was defender Grant Hanley, out with a suspension, and this might have been a less stressful evening had the Norwich City captain been available.
Arguably the team’s best player at the Euros, the loss of Hanley was a blow, but it did open a vacancy to reintroduce the match-winner to the fray after he missed the September fixtures with an injury.
The Manchester United man has been a willing conscript to a defensive role but this nervy night was a showcase for all the reasons why McTominay should always start — but in midfield if possible.
Otherwise, the obvious selection issue was at right wing-back.
The jersey went to Rangers’ Nathan Patterson, an eye-catching performer in last month’s win over
Moldova. Stephen O’Donnell, strong and stable in the subsequent victory over Austria, made way.
There was something appropriate at Israel being the visitors for this first post-lockdown Hampden sell-out. Just before the world shut down in March 2020, these teams were preparing to meet in a Nations League play-off .
The crowd scarcely needed heating up but there were a prematch presentation to warm the heart, one that saw captain Andy Robertson honoured ahead of his 50th international appearance.
The noise as the teams appeared was teeth-rattling.
And Scotland started brightly, carving out a good chance within a minute as Patterson’s energy on the overlap saw him fed by McGinn. The cut-back to Che Adams required a touch off a greasy surface and the forward’s finish was too straight to cause Ofir Marciano a problem.
Like Clarke, Willi Ruttensteiner has spent time crafting a formation that allows him to get his best players on the pitch — namely the attacking trio of Manor Solomon, Moanes Dabbur and the ridiculously prolific Eran Zahavi.
Going into the match, the talk was of how Israel were weakened at the back by the absence of Eitan Tibi and Orel Dgani. The reality is that Hanley’s absence made Scotland just as frail.
And with Solomon, Zahavi and Dabbur going man-for-man against the back three, there was no opportunity for the Scots defence to settle. And they were undone by two first-half set-pieces.
The first saw Israel score in the fourth minute after Jack Hendry bundled into the back of Eran Zahavi as he received a pass from manor Solomon.
Contact was minimal but Zahavi was clearly hoping for the foul and dropped heavily to the ground.
The striker dusted himself down and took aim from 20 yards.
The finish wasn’t tight to the post but the 34-year-old applied sufficient whip to carry it past Craig Gordon’s outstretched right arm.
Dykes fought hard to fashion a chance from a ball that dropped out of the sky but, having fended off Eyad Abaid, the angle was against the QPR man as he fired off a shot, saved by Marciano at the near post With the atmosphere charged and the surface taking on a liberal coating of water, this was not a game for composure and individual battles started to break out around the pitch.
Robertson has rarely looked comfortable playing against Israel’s marauding right wing-back Eli Dasa and was again struggling to get to grips with the Vitesse Arnhem man.
Adams, meanwhile, was finding the rugged Abaid a combative and highly-aggressive opponent.
To the Southampton man’s credit, he did not flinch from the challenge and remained sufficiently tuned in to contribute to the fine equaliser fashioned through the Scots’ best piece of football of the half.
It was Kieran Tierney who sparked the move, galloping onto a loose ball to take the charge down the left before feeding Robrertson on the underlap.
The Liverpool man drove inside and found Adams available for the one-two before picking out McGinn.
Scotland’s top scorer did it again, controlling with his right foot and then shaping an exquisite finish beyond his former Hibs team-mate Marciano with his left foot from just inside the box.
Parity lasted barely two minutes. McTominay, who was having a throughly uncomfortable evening on the right of the defence conceded a cheap free-kick to Bibras Natcho 25 yards out and the Israeli captain stood up to flight the cross to the back post.
Dykes got his foot to the ball but succeeded only in clipping it off Dor Peretz. Gordon’s reactions were good enough to push the ball away but there was Dabbur, lurking to tuck the ball away.
Scotland should have equalised through a penalty awarded at the perfect moment just before halftime. Marciniak had infuriated the home team with some dubious early calls but was quick and resolute in his decision to penalise Natcho for clattering Billy Gilmour after the midfielder had dispatched a shot from the edge of the box.
Dykes had squeezed home a match-winning penalty in Vienna last month but if that kick wasn’t perfect this one was downright rotten, a low bludgeon of a shot that gave Marciano an easy save with his legs.
You could physically sense the atmosphere being sucked out of the crowd in that moment but credit
to Dykes, who re-emerged with his head up and shoulders broad.
The half-time appearance of Sir Alex Ferguson helped stir the crowd back into life and within ten minutes they were roaring again, this time through a mixture of celebration and outrage.
That confusion of emotion resulted from Marciniak’s initial decision to rule out the second Scotland equaliser.
In truth, the goal was the result of a fine piece piece of strike play from Dykes, who flew through the air to jab home Robertson’s cross at the near post.
Yet the despairing attempt at a diving header from Ofri Arad, and his failure to get up thereafter, swayed the official’s thinking.
He awarded a foul, booked Dykes and a mass sense of injustice descended.
It’s in such moments that the merits of VAR become unarguable.
A message to Marciniak’s earpiece directed him to the pitch side monitor and he needed just a few seconds to decree that the goal should stand.
Exasperatingly, Scotland gave up another gift of a chance. Zahavi, normally so potent, stole into space in the middle and was picked out by Solomon.
He had plenty of net to aim at yet headed flatly at Gordon.
The stadium was ready for lift-off as Dykes headed powerfully on the end of a Tierney cross, but Marciano got his hands in the way.
When the industrious Adams submitted to injury, Ryan Christie was thrown on in attack and he carved out a brilliant chance for McGinn to win it.
Slaloming his way to the byline, the Bournemouth man picked out McGinn barely ten yards out. His old pal Marciano didn’t have to be so brilliant to save with his feet.
Marciniak had one final big call to make.
Having informed fourth official Tomasz Musial of the duration of stoppage time the sight of a board signalling six minutes to play added one last surge of electricity through the stadium.
Scotland charged forward and won a corner. McGinn took it, Hendry headed on and McTominay’s right thigh did the rest.