Sizzling Scots lift the gloom to give us hope for the future
A week really can be a long time in football. Especially for the Scottish national team.
After what can only really be described as a bit of a calamitous build-up, victories over Albania and Israel now have the Tartan Army full of confidence that we might actually be about to end our tournament hoodoo.
Frankly, I lost track of all the players who pulled out of the squad and to suggest that it was something close to a second-string outfit that actually took to the field in both games can’t be that far off the mark.
Questions were raised about Alex McLeish and failure to win both games could well have been the end of the road for him.
Questions were raised, as well, about the commitment to the cause of those players who dropped out. It will certainly be interesting to see how many of those are playing club football at the weekend — I suspect the answer will not be zero.
Apathy within the fan base was there for all to see. The crowd in Glasgow on Tuesday night was incredibly disappointing but perhaps not exactly unexpected given the fortunes of the national team over the last few years.
But, by choice or purely by accident, McLeish seems to have found something.
James Forrest netting five goals in two games says all you need to know about his performances.
In the space of a few days, he has gone from a bit-part player to surely now undroppable. And it’s about time. He can frustrate and drop in and out of games at times, but he has the ability to be a genuine match-winner. Here’s hoping that wasn’t his finest moment in a Scotland jersey.
David Bates, who wasn’t even part of the original squad, was also in fine form. Even the much-maligned Steven Fletcher shone at Hampden.
McLeish now has a headache, but a good one, going forward as those who dropped out may well find it tough to get theirjersey back.
That can be no bad thing, though, as there now appears to be some real depth to the squad and options all over the park with those on the fringes having dipped their toes into the waters of national team football.
While we’re at it, credit must be given to UEFA for coming up with the idea of the Nations League.
It’s a little bit hard to grasp at times, but it’s far superior to boring and meaningless friendlies.
Turns out, they can actually come up with a decent idea every now and again.
A word of caution, though. Let’s be honest here. We beat Israel by a single goal at home and defeated an Albania side who played the best part of an hour with 10 men.
Yes, the displays in both games were impressive but the consistency just hasn’t been there over the last few years.
Let’s hope this is a turning point. We’ve been waiting long enough for our fortunes to change.