And so, in the end, Scotland did what Scotland always do. Eight World Cups and four European Championships, every single one of them a disappointing group stage exit. A record in both tournaments for a team who has never made the knockout stages.
The post-mortem will continue for the days and weeks to come, but some things should be pretty clear already.
For one thing, we knew this was going to be tough going into the tournament. Despite winning our first five qualifiers for the first time ever, including a home victory over top seeds Spain, we didn’t have the best of form after that. One win since the fifth of those qualifiers, and even that was a narrow friendly win against Gibraltar.
Add to that the awful luck we had with injuries – whether it was the in-form Lewis Ferguson missing out, our first and second choice right backs being ruled out, Lyndon Dykes being injured in training or even Kieran Tierney being injured against Switzerland… I think only France can point to Kylian Mbappe’s nose as to anything like the bad luck we’ve had!
That said, tactically we were not great. The Germany game was over before we even got started, as we looked to freeze on the big stage. We barely laid a glove on them, and being reduced to ten men only made a difficult match pretty much impossible. The goal difference issue from that game became a millstone around our necks for the rest of the group stage after that.
But that was the hosts, who have found form at the right time, and now have their own expectations for this tournament that maybe they didn’t have previously. We looked better against the Swiss, but still looked fragile at the back and were lucky the Swiss didn’t punish us more with several chances missing the target and VAR correctly helping us out with an offside or two as well.
We didn’t create too many chances, but Grant Hanley did hit the post and we came close at the end of the match too. A win there might have changed our attitude and given us more than just the three points but also belief in ourselves, but instead we took the draw and hoped for the best against Hungary.
But what happened there? Scotland had plenty of possession but none of the shots. Hungary made far better use of the ball when they had it than we did, whereas we didn’t really trouble their goalkeeper until Hanley’s 98th minute effort!
Why is Grant Hanley the man to have our decent chances?
There was the penalty shout, which many have said was a clear penalty. I’m not sure I agree as Stuart Armstrong looked clumsy and maybe was even looking for it, but I’ve seen so many lesser penalties given over the years and I’m astounded VAR didn’t at least intervene. Especially given there was a length penalty check for Hungary when Varga was getting treatment for his very nasty injury, but there was very little evidence of anything untoward despite the injury concern. Yet for Armstrong, there wasn’t even so much as an indication of a check.
Nor did there appear to be an offside check for the Hungarian goal, despite it looking very tight when they broke up the park. Tight enough that it should have been checked at least, even if he was just on in the end. But these feel like sour grapes in a game where we just didn’t do enough to win.
Neil McCann called it in commentary of the final game, any time we played an incisive pass forward, the very next thing we did was play it back again and completely negate the chance to attack. We just never looked like we wanted to win the game, in a game we needed to win. We waited far too long to make the substitutes, and although we seemed to finally want to take more of a chance in the game when we did, we did so in a way that the personnel changes were so shambolic that our defence included Kenny McLean at left back while he was spotted trying to drive forward down the right!
The sucker punch came in the 100th minute, a result of that very nasty injury to Varga, and that sent us home immediately. No waiting to see if we could sneak through with two points. Although, knowing us, the results we need for that scenario will probably happen now anyway!
For the record, if you want to torture yourself the next couple of days, that scenario was wins for Spain and Italy on Monday night, and wins for Portugal and Turkey on Wednesday night. I might stick a couple of quid on that combination, that should at least guarantee it won’t happen!
Always bet responsibly.
There has to be questions asked of Steve Clarke after this disappointment. Yes, he deserves praise for what has been achieved. Two Nations League promotions from League C to League A, qualification for both Euro 2020 via the playoff and Euro 2024 via our qualification group, and qualification for the World Cup 2022 playoff.
But he has to take the criticism as well. The performances at both Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 just weren’t up to the standards that he himself has set for Scotland, and the playoff against Ukraine can unfortunately fall into the same category. If it weren’t for the turnaround in Oslo last summer, I’d almost think we were allergic to games in June!
One thing that really annoys me most right now is hearing people like Steve Clarke and even Angus Gunn telling us that we created enough chances, we scored two goals (one more than Euro 2020), and that’s not why we’ve gone home after the groups yet again.
Sorry, but don’t pee on me and tell me it’s raining, I can see with my own eyes that’s exactly why!
Our stats are considerably worse in attack than any other team at Euro 2024, and quite possibly any team that’s previously featured in previous Euros – including ourselves three years ago! Those two goals were a consolation own goal and a Scott McTominay deflection so bad it was initially given as an own goal as well! Only Poland have beaten us to elimination from the competition this year, being the only team to be knocked out after two matches, although that’s obviously due to our group being the first one to be completed.
Leaving the team aside, another thing that really annoys me is those bizarre criticisms of the Tartan Army. Apparently you shouldn’t be over in Germany enjoying yourself for a fortnight if the team aren’t up to any standard. You should be embarrassed for having a good a time when your team are so poor.
Maybe it’s my age, but I’ve never required success to enjoy football. I grew up a Celtic fan in the late 80s and early 90s where success was at a premium. I like many others enjoyed Tommy Burns’ Celtic team that played great football but only won a single Scottish Cup. I distinctly remember the fans singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” in those years.
I’ve also been fortunate enough to travel to many venues in Europe to see Celtic lose time and time again – literally! I’ve never seen Celtic win abroad in Europe, two draws in Barcelona are the best I’ve managed.
But that’s just the point, it was always more than just the match on those trips. I’ve seen some amazing cities like Munich, Copenhagen, Lisbon, and even gone as far as Donetsk which is sadly not something people can do these days. Every single one of them, I saw Celtic lose. Some of them heavily! I even went to Seville for a European final that Celtic also lost and yet these are all some of my favourite memories!
Germany this summer has looked absolutely amazing. I was fortunate enough to go there in 2006 for the World Cup and I always thought the only thing missing was Scotland. I think the Germans would agree now too, we’ve been brilliant there, and a whole generation of Scots who haven’t been able to see us in a major tournament before this tournament are going to come home with some tremendous memories – despite the performances, despite the results.
For me, that’s what it’s really all about. The experiences, the friends we make, and the memories we cherish forever. If you can’t enjoy yourself on these adventures because the performance in the football match wasn’t up to speed, then I pity you. But don’t you dare criticise those that can. Those fans are living their best life. It’s a shame the team couldn’t give them even more, but you bet they’ll be bursting to do it all over again next time and make even more memories.
I hope one day I get to experience it for myself, but I’m not sure I ever will. That’s not pessimism about not qualifying, although clearly that’s always a concern, but more to do with the hosting setup of modern day tournaments.
A transatlantic trip for the World Cup in two years time might be okay, but it feels like it’s the best of a bad bunch given the logistics of the distances that would need to be travelled there. The next Euros in 2028 is being hosted by the UK and Ireland and as we know from Euro 2020 that doesn’t really feel like a proper tournament trip anyway. The World Cup in 2030 is a shambles between Europe and South America to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the World Cup, whilst Italy and Turkey for the Euros in 2032 sounds okay but could become another logistical nightmare. Then we’re into Saudi Arabia for the 2034 World Cup which sounds as brutal as Qatar would have been had we got there. It’s bound to be another winter World Cup.
We’re therefore looking at 2036, another twelve years from now, before there’s any hope of another tournament like this one. And you kinda feel like the shared hosting is just going to continue with ever increasingly silly pairings. That’s if you don’t just follow the money of course.
Euro 2024 has been fantastic, and there’s a very good reason for that. The Germans just do it right. One massive party in one single country that loves its football as much as we do. That’s how these tournaments were when I was growing up, that’s how they always should be. If they’re too big for one country to host on their own, at least have adjacent countries host them instead. Just not five of them all doing it together, or two that are nowhere near each other!
I think I may just have to settle for trying to get to an away game or two. They’re not the same as a festival of football like a final tournament is, but they can still be memorable occasions. It would be nice to see my team win on the continent just once after all! Although maybe I’m just not destined for that either.
But that’s where Scotland’s attention will turn next. The Nations League starts again in September, and Scotland will need to pick up the pieces from this disappointing Euro 2024 to face the new challenge of being in the top league. The draw has been kind to use, thankfully, with an aging Croatia, the only team who went out after two matches in Poland, and… well, Portugal but we can’t expect a perfect draw.
Those will be tough tests for Scotland, but we shouldn’t be daunted by them despite what’s happened at the Euros or in any of the matches we’ve had since that qualifying victory over in Cyprus. We can still rise now, and find the form that got us into Nations League A and then carried us to Euro 2024 qualification in the first place.
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