Scotland desperate to end tournament pain

GLASGOW: Scotland face Albania in their first Nations League match on Monday (today) with long-suffering fans hoping they can take the first step on the road to ending a 20-year absence from major tournaments.

The new competition is designed to replace international friendlies with more competitive matches and also provide a second route to qualification for the European Championship.

And with Glasgow’s Hampden Park one of the host venues for the tournament in 2020, it gives Alex McLeish’s team, thumped 4-0 by Belgium in a friendly on Friday, added incentive to qualify.

The Scots reached five successive World Cups between 1974 and 1990 thanks to top-quality players such as Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Denis Law, Billy Bremner and Archie Gemmill.

But two decades and 10 major international tournaments have passed since Scotland faced Brazil in the opening game of France 98.

A generation of Scots has been forced to look on enviously as other, smaller, nations such as Iceland, Croatia and neighbours Wales and Northern Ireland have qualified for major tournaments.

Managerial mistakes, lack of facilities, poor youth development and even genetics have been suggested as possible reasons for Scotland’s qualification woes.

Former Rangers, Brighton and Manchester City forward Gordon Smith — who was chief executive of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) from 2007 to 2010 — says everyone from the government down should shoulder some of the blame.

“There are a lot more nations aiming to qualify now and the standard has improved greatly but I think the biggest disappointment for Scotland is looking at nations the size of Iceland qualifying,” Smith told AFP.

“They put a lot of work into changing things and I would give them a lot of credit for that.”

Smith said Scotland lacks facilities but that the government does not see building infrastructure as their duty with all the money washing around in the game.