Scotland have to overcome the odds to get out of group

A stack of injuries have coincided with a poor run of form

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

Steve Clarke does NOT endorse this article – and that’s fine, we’ll get back to Steve Clarke in a moment. In case you hadn’t heard, Scotland are heading to just a second men’s major international tournament in 26 years. After the subdued, Covidrestricted taste-test of Euro 2020 three years ago, Euro 2024 in Germany is the real deal: the Tartan Army will be back, released onto the continent in their tens of thousands and in full voice, buoyant after a qualification campaign that taught a nation how to dream again. Nothing could possibly lessen the excitement now. Nothing.

Hang on though. Injuries to who? One win since when? Germany are finally themselves again? Steady on. This wasn’t going to be easy, but squeezing past the minnows of Gibraltar in a friendly last week did not suggest Scotland will be going to the Euros on a wave of optimism. Clarke was hardly echoing the hubris of Ally MacLeod in 1978 when the Scotland manager took a pop at “negative Normans” in the press. “What’s there to be negative about? Why not just relax and enjoy it,” he said. “I just don’t understand why anybody would be negative about a second European Championships in a row.”

Clarke is not wrong – but there are, admittedly, some big issues ahead of tomorrow night’s opener against the hosts. A thin squad has been further depleted, with injuries striking in key positions where there are shortages of replacements. Rightbacks Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson, and Italy’s midfielder of the year Lewis Ferguson, were already ruled out before Lyndon Dykes, the battering-ram forward who had played a vital part in Scotland’s recent success, suffered an ankle ligament injury in training. Euro 2024 can simultaneously feel like the tournament Scotland have waited a generation for, while also arriving at just the wrong time for this squad.