Don’t kid ourselves, Scotland weren’t hungry enough
I wanted to believe that this time it would be different. I wanted to believe that there was more to tournaments than three matches. I wanted to know what it was like to play in a knock-out match.
But once again, Scotland’s quest to qualify from the group stages of a major tournament goes on after being knocked out of Euro 2024.
And to be frank, we just didn’t look hungry enough to create history and reach the second round for the first time ever.
I had high hopes on Sunday afternoon that it was possible against a Hungary team, who on paper, shouldn’t have caused us any real concerns.
However, as far as I am concerned, Hungary deserved their victory, even though it took them into the 10th minute of injury time to score the winner.
There are arguments that Scotland should have been awarded a penalty in the second half when Stuart Armstrong appeared to have been fouled in the box.
But that wasn’t the reason we are out. I can’t recall a legitimate shot on target during that game for Scotland. And for all the possession that Scotland had in the first half, they were far too hesitant and appeared to be reluctant to fire at goal.
It was like Scotland almost appeared to be looking for a goalless draw and hoping two points was enough to take them through.
Unlike previous campaigns in the past, when Scotland could have claimed glorious failure, this was no hard luck story. The fact is they just didn’t turn up.
From a stagefright ridden horror show in the 5-1 defeat to Germany in the opening game, to some sort of redemption in the 1-1 draw against a classy Switzerland outfit, Scotland simply froze against the Hungarians.
Some of our big name players, who so much was expected of, failed to deliver during this tournament. John McGinn and Andy Robertson were particularly disappointing. A lot of criticism was directed at Che Adams. But to be fair to the striker, he was badly let down by the lack of service he received from his midfield during the entire tournament.
It was reported Scotland had the least shots in the history of the group stages at the European Championships, with just 17. Scotland also became the only team to fail to have a shot in the first half of two matches, which were against Germany and Hungary.
All the optimism from the qualifiers, where we beat Spain 2-0 at Hampden, the miracle of Oslo when we came from 1-0 behind with minutes remaining to win 2-1 against Norway. In the qualification group at least, when Scotland won their first five matches, it did feel different this time.
Yes there was the terrible run of results in the friendlies. You can account for losing to England, France and the Netherlands, but maybe more attention should have been paid to a defeat to Northern Ireland and a draw against Finland before the tournament.
I guess we can now watch the rest of Euro 2024 free of anxiety and not being concerned with our own’s nation’s woes.
But we have been sent home to think again. And try to think of a way where we can get to the World Cup in 2026 and be in a position where we are capable of getting past a group stage.
