Play Jaja Ding Dong!

The Women’s Nations League is now done for another campaign, so focus shifts to the men where they will try to move on from the disappointed of the Nations League playoff defeat to Greece that has consigned us to Nations League B next time.

Yeah, I kinda have to post the 3-0 defeat now, it was the last game we played after all. And, of course, we’ll see them again soon enough when World Cup qualifying comes round.

That campaign doesn’t start for us until September though, so in the meantime we have two friendly matches to entertain, try new stuff, cap new players… or maybe just see the same old faces.

I really hope not, but Steve Clarke has suggested he’ll be doing exactly that. Nothing experimental, nothing new, just the same old tune over and over again. Like that yelling guy in the crowd in the Eurovision movie.

Speaking of which…

Tonight’s opponents are Iceland, and the match at Hampden is a 7.45pm kick off. The game is live on BBC One for those not paying the extortionate prices the SFA are charging for a meaningless friendly. The cheapest regular ticket for this match, if you’re a Scotland Supporters Club member, is 35 quid behind the goal. Or 40 quid if you want a side-on view.

Like us, Iceland’s last outing was a Nations League playoff defeat. Unlike us, they were trying to stay in Nations League B. However, after losing 2-1 in Kosovo…

… and then 3-1 at home (of which I can’t find footage), there’s a good chance we could end up facing Kosovo in the next campaign. We definitely won’t be facing Iceland as they’ll be in the C-section!

Interestingly, we’ve never met Iceland in a friendly before. All of our six previous meetings have been competitive matches.

The first meeting came in World Cup 86 qualifying. Beat them 3-0 at Hampden in October 1984, two goals from Paul McStay and one from Charlie Nicholas.

Then came a 1-0 win in Iceland in May 1985, Jim Bett with the winner late on. Two important results on the way to the finals in Mexico.

We next met Iceland in Euro 2004 qualifying. October 2002 saw a 2-0 win in Iceland where Christian Dailly and Gary Naysmith got the goals.

The Hampden match came in March 2003, and saw Kenny Miller give us the lead before Eidur Gudjohnsen equalised just after half time. But Lee Wilkie was the unlikely hero with the winner in a 2-1 victory. Again, two important wins on our way to the playoff against the Netherlands.

The most recent meetings came in qualification for World Cup 2010. September 2008 saw Kirk Broadfoot and James McFadden give us a two goal lead before a Birkir Saevarsson penalty gave the home side a chance, but ultimately Scotland won 2-1.

The most recent game was the April 2009 game at Hampden, which was also the third 2-1 win for us in a row against them. This time Ross McCormack gave Scotland the lead before half time, Indridi Sigurdsson equalised after half time, but Steven Fletcher scored the winner soon thereafter. Highlights of an otherwise disappointing campaign given we only won one other game of the eight… although the most memorable thing about this game is more likely the drinking adventures of Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor at Cameron House!

While we’re warming up to face Denmark, Greece and Belarus in qualifying for World Cup 2026 in North America, Iceland will have to contend with France, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Both of us were pot 3 teams when the draw was made, so UEFA clearly think we’re of similar standard which might make for an interesting match tonight. Or might not, it’s a friendly, who knows.

Scotland’s record in friendlies under Steve Clarke is, quite frankly, appalling. We beat Gibraltar just over a year ago today, but followed that up with a draw against Finland. Prior to that we’d lost to the Netherlands and Northern Ireland, prior to that we’d lost to England and France, prior to that we’d lost to Turkey, prior to that we’d drawn with Poland and Austria, prior to that we’d beaten Luxembourg after drawing with the Netherlands, and prior to that was before Steve Clarke took charge (although they don’t get any better back then)! So two wins, and they’re 1-0 against Luxembourg and 2-0 against Gibraltar!

Friendly results don’t really matter… except they do because all games count towards the FIFA World Rankings and they get used all too much for deciding qualification draws. It would be really nice if we could start to address that, particularly given the quality of opposition is perhaps not as great as it has been in recent friendlies.

Mind you, the lesser the opposition, the more Scotland can step up the level of embarrassment. But let’s save that for Monday’s blog…

It’s hard to get up for this game. It’s the end of the season, the Greece disappointment is still too fresh, and even a decent performance and result isn’t going to erase that. Getting to a World Cup might just do that, but that’s not important for a few months more yet.

Still… Good luck to Scotland tonight!