Someone within Hampden Park had the temerity to blast Freed From Desire over the public address system at full time. A song reserved normally for euphoric moments only just drowned out the jeers which met a Scotland victory. People just want more and more? Too right they do.
With this win, Steve Clarke and his players edged closer to the World Cup finals tournament. It was just that a return to that scene for the first time since 1998 felt a million miles away as the Scots limped and laboured past Belarus. “We know we have got to be better, man,” Scott McTominay said. The Napoli midfielder was even more profound as he scored Scotland’s second; second word “me” and the first a rhyme with “duck”. McTominay’s lack of celebrations depicted perfectly Scotland’s messy night.
Clarke is fiercely protective of his squad as standard. To the Scotland manager’s credit, he refused to sugarcoat what played out here. A clearly furious Clarke was withering in his criticism. “I am really, really disappointed,” he said. “As disappointed as I have been during 72 games in charge. We just didn’t turn up. The performance was way below par. It is head-scratching.” Perhaps, yet it must be remembered Scotland were outplayed even in defeating Greece on Thursday.
There is a caveat, and an important one. Scotland’s overall qualifying position is strong. They have taken 10 points from a possible 12 to date. “The players know what my feelings are but I have great faith in them, I trust them completely,” Clarke said.
“I am very confident they will be in a much better place next month. They have never let me down before and I am confident they will not next month.”
Amid the bad vibes, Denmark’s win against Greece in Copenhagen meant Scotland have secured at worst a World Cup playoff berth.
Yet questions, and so many of them, were raised by this Scottish showing. They were unconvincing in defence, lacking authority in midfield and woefully ponderous in attack. A capacity crowd, who arrived for a box-ticking exercise, grew increasingly edgy. Should Scotland progress to the World Cup and produce anything remotely approaching this, they will be also-rans.
Belarus, the 100th-ranked team in the world and a side knocked for six at home by Denmark only days earlier, were the more fluent for concerted spells. The visitors managed 22 shots on goal, were denied a second‑half equaliser by a debatable VAR intervention, and had the Scots clinging on for dear life by the end.
“In my opinion we deserved to at least draw this game,” the Belarus coach, Carlos Alós, said. Not even those with tartan lenses on their specs could argue.
There had been warning signs for Scotland in the opening exchanges. It was just that nobody bothered to heed them. Scott McKenna had to scramble away a teasing German Barkovskiy cross, Kenny McLean had to block Evgeni Yablonski’s shot and Pavel Zabelin sent a free header over the Scotland bar – all within 11 minutes.
Ché Adams slamming home with his left foot after collecting a Jack Hendry pass for the opener – although it was originally ruled out for offside and needed a VAR review to stand – should have settled nerves, but Clarke cut an agitated figure for the remainder of the first half. Ben Gannon-Doak, Scotland’s bright young forward hope, was guilty of poor decision-making time and again.
Scotland believed they had won a penalty for a handball by Yegor Parkhomenko, only for Adams to be penalised for the same offence in the lead-up.
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In the 63rd minute there was an even more crucial intervention by officialdom. Yevgeny Malashevich spun off Andy Robertson, met Barkovski’s cross and flicked beyond Angus Gunn. The Romanian referee Marian Barbu decreed upon second glance that McTominay was fouled on the halfway line as Belarus snatched possession. It was a borderline call and an embarrassing scenario for the Scots to be in. “If that stands, I am not sure we would have got ourselves back in front,” Clarke said later. Alos refused to make an issue of the decision.
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The Faroe Islands produced a stunning victory against the Czech Republic to boost their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup finals tournament. The European minnows made it four wins from their past five qualifiers, following their remarkable 4-0 victory against Montenegro last week by defeating the Czechs 2-1.
All the goals came in the final quarter of the match, with Adam Karabec cancelling out Hanus Sorensen’s opener only for Martin Agnarsson to score an 81st-minute winner. The Faroe Islands are now only one point behind second-placed Czech Republic in Group L. Croatia top the pool and sit three points ahead of the Czechs with a game in hand thanks to a 3-0 victory against Gibraltar.
The Netherlands are in full control of Group G after hammering Finland 4-0.
There was a distinct Liverpool look to the scoresheet, with Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo both finding the net along with Aston Villa’s Donyell Malen and Memphis Depay. Poland sit three points behind after beating Lithuania 2-0 with goals from Sebastian Szymanski and Robert Lewandowski.
Denmark and Scotland are guaranteed top-two finishes in Group C after the Danes defeated Greece 3-1. The game was all but over by half-time, with Denmark going three up through Rasmus Hojlund, Joachim Andersen and Mikkel Damsgaard. Christos Tzolis pulled one back for Greece in the 63rd minute, but that was as close as they came.
Virgil Ghita’s stoppage-time winner kept Romania‘s hopes of qualifying alive as they secured a 1-0 victory against the Group H leaders Austria, while Cyprus defeated San Marino 4-0.
McTominay has been well short of his best throughout this Scottish campaign. He did, however, allow his country breathing space after Aleksandr Martynovich failed to clear Robertson’s cross from the Scotland left. Anybody who anticipated Clarke’s men easing over the line from there was to be swiftly dissuaded from that notion.
The final act of the night, quite rightly, belonged to Belarus. Robertson was left for dust by Hleb Kuchko in the sixth added minute of eight. He finished smartly underneath the advancing Gunn.
Clarke dismissed the sense that nerves played a part in the Scottish approach. In fact, he swatted aside any potential excuse floated towards him. “Maybe I’ll go back to the hotel and have a quiet beer,” he said.
It was a night for more than one. Scotland must hope this is a game of which they never need speak ever again.