That's why mums, dads, kids and the whole Tartan Army go to Iceland
Well...
First off let me refute any claims of incessant positive chat from this mouth. I must say, I did thoroughly enjoy my evening at a wet Three Sisters bar. At least the company was good because the show was not. Iceland should probably have been a couple of goals to the good before the mighty Kirk Broadfoot rose like a salmon from a river to head home our first.
I have to say, when I heard Broadfoot was in the side, I think my reaction bordered on "What the ****?! 4-0 to Iceland... minimum." But, credit to him, he rose above his "limited talent" (quote - George Burley) to scale the heights of mediocrity for Scotland last night.
A missed penalty from McFadden (okay, he scored the rebound but still) and a red-card for Stephen McManus nearly led us back from the brink of victory, but somehow we clung on and ground out a 2-1. Which, at the end of the day, doesn't really make up for defeat in Macedonia.
Relentless positivity? Aye right. If we'd gone to Croatia and won 4-1 (well done to that young Walcott by the way...) I would have said amazing things. But - with the current crop of players at least - we're still a long way from anywhere. We massively overachieved in the "Group of Death" last time out with France, Italy and Ukraine. But we have to face facts - merely qualifying for a tournament with the quality that we have will be an enormous achievement in itself.
Iceland are hardly world-beaters - yes, I know, you can only beat what is in front of you - but then, neither are Macedonia. At times they made us look pretty ordinary - especially at the back. Yes there were positives - Maloney and Commons on the wings allowed us to actually get some crosses into the box. But really, there are far too many in that team that are just there to make up the numbers. Our Under-21s narrowly missed out (another glorious Scottish failure!) on qualifying, and there are some decent prospects there. Surely it is time to give some of them a run out in the first team?
Anyway. Jeff does have a union flag on his phone. I'm saying nothing about it - merely confirming.
2 comments:
You know, if you keep using the "glorious failure" line you end up not only believing it but living it.
I prefer the Andy Murray approach. If you are lucky enough to beat me, I'm going to train and hunt you down. I don't hear Stanislav Warinka, del Potro or Nadal talk about Andy Murray's glorious failure in the US Open!
My phone background is now Margaret Thatcher, and her lovely hair
Jeff,
Murray is a slightly different case. He has some talent. And he works at it. And yes, he has improved enormously - I certainly wouldn't class losing in the final of the US Open as glorious failure - especially since he looks like he will make it to another Slam final again sometime soon.
As for Scotland's side - I wouldn't say there was anything glorious about Saturday either. That was just failure. All I'm asking for is a decent standard and some realism from the Scottish press and fans. Qualifying would be a massive achievement. Lets have a wee bit more realism about it.
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