Tonight's The Night - Dare We To Dream?

I HAVE BEEN watching Scotland find novel ways to either fail to qualify for the actual tournaments, or, having qualified, blow the whole show, since 1954. Yes, although I don't remember too-much of the game, I watched Scotland get hammered 7-0 by Uruguay, on a 12 inch screen Pye television set, back in June, 1954.

So, my view of tonight's game is more: “how will we blow it this time?" than: “can we qualify?” As things stand, we lie 20^th in the standings, with only the top 16 teams qualifying for the knock-out stages.

The minimum we need is a two-goal win over Croatia, with one or two other results going our way as additional protection to our hopes. On our past record, I cannot see us qualifying, more-so with Billy Gilmour ruled out after testing positive for Covid.

But, there is still hope, so I am not getting depressed – yet. As a wee bonus, just in Group D, I would love it if the Czech Republic could beat England 2-0, a result which, coupled with us beating Croatia by the same score, would lift us above England in the group standings. Anything after that would be a bonus.

Just imagine, if we scraped through in 16^th spot, with England 17^th and out – Lineker, Shearer, Ferdinand & Co would be suicidal; Oh Joy!! Sadly, apparently this cannot happen and they are already through. (Or was that merely BBC propaganda?)

But, let's not get ahead of ourselves, past experience tells me, it's more likely to be England that scrapes through, with us just missing out.

Tonight will be yet another of those nerve-shredding Hampden evenings, with everything on the line. We've been here before, of course, sometimes it all ends in smiles and celebrations, but, it has to be admitted, we've had some disappointing nights at the old stadium too.

It's all part of the tragi-comedic story of following Scotland. It is a very true saying that, when you sign-up for the Tartan Army, it's the hope that kills. So, tonight, once again we travel in hope. It's the Scottish way.

However, it's not as if we are playing naebudy, the Croatians are a bloody good side, just the sort of opponents who can bring out the best in Scotland. Might this be one of the great Hampden nights, which ends in a lap of honour following our first qualification for the knock-out phases of a tournament?

Even an old Scotsman like me can still dream – COME ON SCOTLAND!!