FRANKFURT, Germany — Scotland’s repeated failure to win major tournaments is so deeply ingrained in the national psyche that songs have been written about it. They are perhaps the unluckiest team in world soccer, and deserve a ballad of broken dreams.
When Scotland qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup (their final appearance in the tournament), Glasgow band Del Amitri wrote the team’s official song, titled “Don’t Come Back Soon.” But it didn’t work out. Scotland had 10 out of 10 chances of qualifying for the tournament at that point, but they were eliminated in the group stage and never made it to the knockout stage. Don’t Come Back Soon? They were one of the first teams to pack up and leave, again.
If you want a tale of glorious failure and what-ifs, be it the World Cup or the European Championships, Scotland are the team for you. The final chapter is always the same: a heartbreaking ending.
“Throughout the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, they had some of the best players in Europe and they never got out of their group stage,” ESPN FC pundit and former Scotland midfielder Craig Burley said. “It’s amazing. There were probably 100 Scotland teams that were better than this team. [current manager] Steve Clarke has done a fantastic job as manager and this could be the team that finally gets Scotland through the group stage.”
Scotland have played in 11 major tournaments, including eight World Cups and three European Championships, and have always lost at the first hurdle, but Clarke’s men have a chance to make history when they reach the fourth round of European Championships on Sunday, in Scotland’s 12th appearance.
Scotland restored hopes with a 1-1 draw with Switzerland after a 5-1 opening loss to Germany and a win over Hungary in Stuttgart would see them guarantee qualification from Group A to the last 16 and finally achieve what their predecessors eluded.
“The team is aware that Scotland have never made it out of the group stage before and we’re desperate to change that,” defender Jack Hendry said. “The team is determined to make history against Hungary and there’s a lot to look forward to now. It’s all in our hands, of course, so we’re really looking forward to it.”
Scotland’s long tale of misery stretches back to the 1954 World Cup, but it wasn’t just that they weren’t good enough – they had some of the best players in the world at the time in Denis Law, Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness – but if there’s a way to screw something up, Scotland accidentally found it.
Scotland have been eliminated from three World Cups on goal difference in 1974, 1978 and 1982, but were eliminated from the 1974 World Cup despite being unbeaten in their group stage in West Germany.
Four years later Scotland flew to the World Cup in Argentina and manager Ally MacLeod proclaimed to the nation that they would return as world champions, but despite beating eventual finalists Holland 3–2 in the final match, they lost to Peru and drew with Iran, meaning the Netherlands beat Scotland despite being level on points.
“In 1978, the whole country thought we would win the World Cup,” former Scotland international and ESPN FC commentator Steve Nicol said. “It sounds ridiculous now, but 40,000 people watched the team leave at Hampden Park and thousands more lined the streets as the players were bused to the airport. But the manager didn’t really study the opponents. He just said he thought the team would be the best in the world, but we didn’t even beat Peru or Iran.”
Despite the humiliation of being eliminated at the first stage despite expectations of World Cup glory, Scotland manager MacLeod insisted his team should have reached the knockout stages after their impressive win over the Netherlands.
“We were getting so much flak from the press that we all got together and said, ‘All those guys, shut up and let’s play our own game,'” McLeod said at the time. “If we’d played the way we did in the first two games, I have no doubt we would have won the championship, but unfortunately that’s not how it went. And that’s how it is.”
However, Scotland’s closest losses came at the 1986 World Cup and Euro 96 – both by a single goal.
In 1986, Nicol was part of Alex Ferguson’s Scotland team that needed to beat Uruguay in their final group game to qualify for the knockout stages, and Scotland looked to be on track to qualify when a Uruguayan player was sent off two minutes into the game.
But this is Scotland and everything has gone wrong.
“It worked against us that their player was sent off,” Nicol said. “Then the referee ruled the other way and there was a foul every 90 seconds and they did nothing. Uruguay just thrashed us. It was like the worst of the 1980s – spitting, cheating, all sorts of things could happen and bad things could happen. I had a chance to score, probably my only chance. I was four yards out and the ball hit the bottom of my foot and the keeper saved it. We didn’t score and we ended up losing 0-0.”
Ten years later, Scotland went into their final group game at Euro 96 needing to beat Switzerland and England needing to beat the Netherlands by four points. An unlikely scenario, Scotland’s win over Switzerland gave England a 4-0 lead over the Netherlands. Scotland were winning, but Dutchman Patrick Kluivert scored a late consolation goal to eliminate Scotland. English fans sang a song mocking their British Isles neighbours for yet another defeat.
“That was the closest we came,” Burley said. “We were leading, we lost the lead, we led again, we lost the lead again. I was on the wing closest to the dugout and I was told to charge forward, drop back, charge forward. Then Kluivert scored for Holland against England and we lost the lead. But it was an incredible night. Ally McCoist scored a world-class goal to put us ahead and then we missed about seven easy chances. Very McCoist.”
For McCoist, the near miss symbolised the reality of being involved in the Scotland team.
“We finished with four points which now automatically qualifies us,” McCoist told the Press and Journal. “I remember the reaction of the crowd when England conceded that goal and effectively eliminated us, but England had beaten Holland 4-0 at the time so it was a massive turning point for us. Those five minutes were the epitome of what it means to be a Scotland player and fan. I hope it doesn’t happen again at this Euros but I don’t think it will.”
The chance to rewrite history lies with Clarke and his players, with more than 50,000 Scotland supporters – the self-described Tartan Brigade – due to travel to Stuttgart on Sunday, but with 90 minutes to go before Scotland reach a major tournament knockout stage, Nicol believes the weight of history will not be placed on his players’ shoulders.
“All this talk about the psychology of carrying the burden of expectations is complete nonsense,” says Nicol. “When you get off the bus at the stadium, as a player all you think about is the game you’re going to play and what you have to do. All the external noise of being the first team to qualify from the group stage doesn’t even cross your mind. Scotland and Hungary will probably be thinking the same thing going into the game, which means they have a good chance of winning and progressing to the next stage.”
“But as a Scotsman, I’m prepared for another glorious failure.”