The Brutal Truth Exposed By Scotland's Miserable Exit

At least Steve Clarke could point to progress, of sorts. “We scored two goals this time, we only scored one the last time,” said Clarke, as the Scotland manager reflected on another group stage exit from a major tournament.

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

However, it summed up Scotland’s lack of cutting edge at Euro 2024 that the two goals they did score went in off opposition players, in Antonio Rudiger’s own goal and Fabian Schar deflecting Scott McTominay’s shot past his goalkeeper.

If hosts Germany and Euro 2024 will miss the Tartan Army and the atmosphere the travelling fans brought to the tournament, the same cannot be said of Scotland on the pitch. If three games brought one point and an early exit, the same as three years ago at Euro 2020, Scotland can hardly pretend to be hard done by.

Their 17 shots at Euro 2024 is the joint-lowest ever total recorded in a group stage – only Northern Ireland, in 2016, showed less attacking threat and even they managed what Scotland could not and reached the knockouts.

And so the fear before the tournament that Scotland did not have enough goals in the side proved correct, as an absence of creativity and attacking ambition became brutally apparent. In a must-win game against Hungary, Scotland failed to have a shot until the hour.

Holding out for one moment – in this case, appealing for a penalty as Stuart Armstrong went to ground in the box along with Hungary’s Willi Orban – was a gamble Clarke took. And it explained Scotland’s passive start. “It was a one-goal game,” he said. For him, it hinged on a “100 per cent” penalty.