Scotland Vs Italy

[Big Boy]

Unlucky - nice video though.

[Jockey]

This is only the start. This young Scottish team are going places. They tried hard and almost succeeded against the world champions. At times their play was sublime. Many of the players are 22/23 years of age. This can only auger well for the next World cup. Scotland are back as serious contenders on the world stage after the worst decade of results in their history. The players did us proud, not only in this gallant defeat, but throughout the whole campaign. Italy are a better team than Scotland, but I'm proud to say, better not by much! The referee made a few mistakes, some for, some against us, so no real complaints - the players deserve credit - no use blaming referees, we were just not good enough against the two world cup finalists, but took them to the wire. The future for Scotland looks good.

[caller]

The future for Scotland looks good.

We'll see.

You can't have any complaints about the ref as a perfectly good 2nd Italian goal was disallowed for offside and Scotland's wasn't when it was!

[redzonerocker]

The future for Scotland looks good.

although a gallant performance tonight i have to question your optimism for the future.
i only saw one full game of your qualifiers, the 2-0 defeat in georgia .
i know you will bang on about winning 0-1 in paris, but in all honesty it was a bit of a smash & grab!
it was a tremendous campaign you fought out & you should rightly be proud of your performances. its great to see players giving everything for the cause & the pride in which they wear the shirt. something englands players should well take note of!!
you dont have the top class individual players that can change games in an instance, in the big games like tonight, that sometimes makes difference between winning & losing.
just my opinion of course

[Jaime]

As an ardent English supporter I sympathise with all those from North of the Border. The Spanish Ref gifted the Italians the free kick which turned the game and f***ed the result.

Curse those Spaniards. They ruin everything.

[KelpieKiss]

you dont have the top class individual players that can change games in an instance, in the big games like tonight, that sometimes makes difference between winning & losing.

Maybe we don't have the best individual players but we still managed to change the game in an instance. If you watched the game last night after Scotland had scored and tried to forget the reputations, most gambling men would have had to back Scotland in the last 10 minutes. We were playing BETTER than Italy, the world champions. If that's not a reason for optimism, I don't know what is.

Any team in the world would find it very hard to come back against Italy. We not only did this by playing good football but also carved them open in a great move and almost got a 2nd. If that sitter had been scored then it would have been a very different story. That's the cruelty of football.

Anyone who can't see that Scotland are now a footballing force to be reckoned with are looking at old reputations and not those 11 men on the park. For the last 10 years Scotland have been the whipping boys, now I can't imagine too many teams wanting to draw us in their group. Plain and simply - We're good!

[Big Boy]

KelpiKiss wrote:

Anyone who can't see that Scotland are now a footballing force to be reckoned with are looking at old reputations and not those 11 men on the park. For the last 10 years Scotland have been the whipping boys, now I can't imagine too many teams wanting to draw us in their group. Plain and simply - We're good!

I don't think they'll worry that much - I'm not sure what planet you've been on, but Scotland have not qualified - they will not be in anybody's group.

[miked]

Anyone who can't see that Scotland are now a footballing force to be reckoned with are looking at old reputations and not those 11 men on the park. For the last 10 years Scotland have been the whipping boys, now I can't imagine too many teams wanting to draw us in their group. Plain and simply - We're good!

Sorry but your not good. Never qualified. Like it or not Scotland still are whipping boys. If and when you qualify then call yourself good. Third in a group is no good. Once again England carry the flag for the home nations. We will qualify.

[KelpieKiss]

Sorry but your not good. Never qualified. Like it or not Scotland still are whipping boys. If and when you qualify then call yourself good. Third in a group is no good. Once again England carry the flag for the home nations. We will qualify.

Typical. Wait for England being handed a lifeline and the smugness comes a flowing. The phrase 'you only sing when you're winning comes to mind'. We're no good cause we never qualified? We took the 2 world cup finalists to the wire! We were playing the WORLD CHAMPIONS last night. Sorry we weren't quite as good as England who would of course have thrashed them. I suppose the Ukraine are a crap side too? You had the easiest group and you might just scrape through. You're obviously going to win it now! I for one can't wait to see England qualify. Then I'll have the chance to watch you being severely humped when you play Italy or France.

I'll be looking forward to the World Cup qualifiers. Scotland will just get better and better. Oh, and Big Boy, thanks for pointing out in bold that Scotland didn't qualify. Other people might have thought I meant drawing Scotland in their group in future competitions.

[Big Boy]

KelpieKiss wrote@

Oh, and Big Boy, thanks for pointing out in bold that Scotland didn't qualify. Other people might have thought I meant drawing Scotland in their group in future competitions.

Sorry for that Kelpie, I just couldn't resist. However, it was meant in jest - apologies if it offended.

I can still remember the days when Scotland were an awesome force - it ain't that long ago. The good times are bound to come back, these things always work in cycles.

By the way, we're not singing just yet - lets wait until after Wednesday's result.

[redzonerocker]

kelpie, how have england been handed a lifeline???
they are currently second in the group on merit, not because of one result last night.
if we get the result on weds we will qualify because we amassed the points over the duration of the qualifiers (12 games), not because israel beat russia last night.
italy or france will hold no fears for us if we get through, nor will any other side for that matter.there doesnt seem to be any truly outstanding sides in europe at present.

[dtaai-maai]

...if we get the result on weds we will qualify because we amassed the points over the duration of the qualifiers (12 games), not because israel beat russia last night.
italy or france will hold no fears for us if we get through, nor will any other side for that matter.there doesnt seem to be any truly outstanding sides in europe at present.

An Englishman says ...hmmmm

[redzonerocker]

An Englishman says ...hmmmm

not sure of your angle there d-m.
is that a hmmmm, will we qualify? or a hmmmm, you disagree?
no league format is decided on one result.

[dtaai-maai]

I suppose 'hmmm' meant:

1. If England qualify we can count ourselves extremely fortunate.

2. The fact that everything is back in the hands of the England team (thanks to Israel), hardly fills me with confidence.

3. How sad that a home win against Croatia is not a cast iron certainty.

4. Can't agree that we have nothing to fear from France or Italy. I think Cyprus or Andorra might cause us problems at the moment.

[Wanderlust]

I suppose 'hmmm' meant:

1. If England qualify we can count ourselves extremely fortunate.

2. The fact that everything is back in the hands of the England team (thanks to Israel), hardly fills me with confidence.

3. How sad that a home win against Croatia is not a cast iron certainty.

4. Can't agree that we have nothing to fear from France or Italy. I think Cyprus or Andorra might cause us problems at the moment.

As far as point 1 goes, i think we will be extremely unfortunate because we will be stuck with the idiot McLaren until the next World Cup (unless someone can uncover some weird non football related wrong doing by him (e.g offensive remarks about handicapped people). And before anyone jumps in to say it is unfair to blame the manager/coach, it is true of course that the players have under performed but generally that is because of what the manager is asking them to do, and the players he has selected. For a start it would help if he picked a goalkeeper who was (a) in good form, and (b) doesn't push almost every shot on target back into the danger area. And how Downing is anywhere near the squad is a mystery to everyone (well not a complete mystery - it was probably part of the deal when he left 'Boro ). And the list goes on - I can understand any manager wanting to have a settled squad and team but McLaren shows the same blind loyalty to players that SGE did, even when they are clearly not performing. I think the only good thing that has come out of his reign so far is that it has proved once and for all that England are better with either Gerrard or Lampard but not both at the same time - one of them should be playing in the centre alongside one of Barry, Hargreaves or Carrick, with Barry doing well so far.

Anyway, us 'smug' England fans shouldn't clutter up this thread about Scotland's brave effort, although the attitude displayed by some Scottish fans on here makes me begin to wonder why England fans bother cheering on the other home nations as it certainly is never reciprocated, and is in fact quite the opposite. I know there are centuries of battles and rivalry but lets save that for when we play each other eh? I would hope that if England do get through that if we play Italy the Scots might actually cheer us on, but of course that is a very vain hope, isn't it?