CHARLIE CHRISTIE: Euros qualification would be just the pick me up for Scottish football after club continential qualification disappointments
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An article I came across early this week made sombre reading as an English journalist reflected on the performances of the four Scottish clubs on European duty in late August.
He established that the clubs playing in their two-legged European qualifying rounds had lost by a cumulative total of 26 goals against to seven goals for, and it didn’t make for good reading.
What made it even worse was that, apart from the obvious Aston Villa mismatch against Hibernian, I genuinely felt our other three teams had been given winnable ties when the qualifying draws were made.
A year ago, Rangers played PSV Eindhoven and won, and would have been hoping to repeat that feat this time around but – after a first-leg draw at Ibrox – were totally outplayed in Holland, and looked a technical level below their opposition as they were dismantled 5-1.
Aberdeen had established an excellent foundation to progress with their away draw in Sweden, but never grasped the key opportunities that came their way in the Pittodrie second leg and succumbed to BK Hacken’s quality in the final third and will now drop to the Conference League.
That left our two Edinburgh clubs, Hibs and Hearts.
Whilst I never expected Hibs to cause English Premiership giants Aston Villa any real problems, I was still surprised by the huge gulf in strength, ability, pace, and technique that was so apparent in both legs and a further indication of the difference in levels of the top leagues north and south of the border.
Hearts have had an indifferent start to the season and their second-leg display in Thessaloniki added to the current unrest of the Tynecastle faithful as they witnessed their team concede four goals, including two within the first within 23 minutes, to PAOK Salonika in a match where they were never at the races.
Hearts enjoyed a terrific round of group fixtures last season as they filled Tynecastle for all three Conference League games but European football this year is now gone, and they must focus on their domestic campaign which has got off to that stuttering start.
And so Celtic in the Champions league, Rangers in the Europa League and Aberdeen in the Conference League are now left to fly the Scottish flag in European group matches this season and we really need them to produce better results than we’ve witnessed so far to maintain our European coefficient going forward.
This evening Scotland have an incredible opportunity to all but confirm their place at the 2024 Euros in Germany when they face Cyprus in Larnaca in our fifth Group A match.
A win would put us on 15 points and make it almost impossible to finish outside the top two who gain automatic qualification to those finals.
It would be an incredible achievement and testament to how Steve Clarke’s men have performed to date in what was deemed a very tricky group.
The first match at Hampden against the Cypriots ended in a 3-0 victory but that scoreline somewhat flattered us as it was a very testing encounter until Scot McTominay’s two late goals.
The temperature at kick-off will also be a factor but the prize on offer is huge and every Scottish player will be desperate to continue what has been a fabulous campaign for us to date.
After those disappointing club displays in European competition it would be a real shot in the arm to Scottish football if our national team could make it five wins on the trot and take that giant step towards Germany next summer.
