Ruaraidh Gilmour |
It wasn’t too long ago that every Scottish football fan was rallying behind the national team after an emphatic victory over the Republic of Ireland and hard fought performances against the world’s best: Germany.
A year on, well I can’t say I’m surprised: Scotland missed out on the chance to qualify for yet another major international competition, finishing fourth behind Germany, Poland and the Republic of Ireland. The only team in Britain not to qualify for Euro 2016.
It’s fair to say I was bitterly disappointing to watch Scotland’s chances of qualification slowly wither away in the final few games. Scotland’s slow death tempted a bombardment of questions from the media regarding whether or not manager Gordon Strachan would continue coach the National squad. It seems like an unlikely period of stability may be gracing Scottish international football with Strachan set to continue his role as manager.
Personally, I feel as if there is far too much negativity attached to Scotland by the media, fans and in some cases even the players. I feel like there are positives that can be taken away from the account Scotland gave themselves over the qualification period. The squad is predominantly young, yet it ha a fair amount of experience from the likes of Scott Brown and Charlie Mulgrew, who have played against the world’s best at international and club level. Steven Fletcher, although out of form at club level, began to show his prowess in the last few international games with goals against Poland and Gibraltar. Leigh Griffths has had a phenomenal start to the season at Celtic proving himself to be a prolific goal scorer, showing himself off as a real asset to Strachan’s team.
Fear, something that most Scottish national teams unfortunately adopt, although evidently still a factor in Scotland’s play against Georgia and the away draw in the Republic of Ireland, fear seems less of a factor in the current squads mindsets. Dogged performances against Poland and Germany highlighted a new found fight, especially from the young players which gave the Scotland fans a new found passion and seen by the sharp rises in attendance at games.
The Scottish national team is experiencing a transitional period. It’s providing the national team with young, fresh, fearless players that carry little of the stigma of previous Scottish teams that have failed to reach major international competitions. The negatives should not be dwelled upon, the team is growing technically and is gaining experience rapidly, I feel this can only be seen as a positive time for Scottish international football.
