Melanius Mullarkey Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 1 minute ago, Tartan Blood said: .The thing I'm worried about is that there will be the best part of a billion eyes watching us Or about one third of your typical global OF* audience. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan Blood Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 Just now, Melanius Mullarkay said: Or about one third of your typical global OF* audience. That's partly why I included McGregor in the list of names. (plus champions league matches) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VictorOnopko Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 1 minute ago, Tartan Blood said: If Gordon can regain his fitness, I'd be happy to have him between the sticks. By god he deserves it. The thing I'm worried about is that there will be the best part of a billion eyes watching us against Germany. Robertson is probably the only player to experience the equivalent in a football match (champions league final). McTominay, Tierney, McGinn and McGregor have all played in big games, but nothing like this. Hopefully none of our players get overwhelmed by the occasion. This is why having previous tournament experience is going to be so vital. Don't get me wrong, I love Craig Gordon, but a 40-year-old recently returned from a horror leg break isn't a brilliant option either, however wonderful it would be to see him at the finals (even then, I'd have him in before Clark and Kelly if he's played some club football and done OK). Less worried about the sense of occasion - we had that at home v Spain recently and away at Wembley in the last Euros and were fine. The World Cup 98 team weren't global superstars and they were extremely close to a result against a much, much better team than this current German gang. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insert Amusing Pseudonym Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 I don't think any of the teams we're playing are great. None are complete mugs either, but we've got definitely the worst pot 1 team, a middling pot 2 and a pot 4 which could have been better or worse but aren't a team you'd be shitting it from. Cannot wait to get my tickets sorted on Wednesday and just extremely excited about the whole trip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan Blood Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 (edited) 6 minutes ago, VictorOnopko said: Don't get me wrong, I love Craig Gordon, but a 40-year-old recently returned from a horror leg break isn't a brilliant option either, however wonderful it would be to see him at the finals (even then, I'd have him in before Clark and Kelly if he's played some club football and done OK). Less worried about the sense of occasion - we had that at home v Spain recently and away at Wembley in the last Euros and were fine. The World Cup 98 team weren't global superstars and they were extremely close to a result against a much, much better team than this current German gang. Very true. All of the expectation will be on the hosts to win. If anyone is going to crumple under the pressure, it'll be the Germans. Especially since they'll already have the fans and media on their back for their recent form. We have such a settled squad now that I don't think it'll be too much of an issue. Hickey, Gunn and Porteous are probably the 3 players most likely to start that don't have the big tournament experience yet. Hickey plays in the EPL, so he'll be fine. And Porteous has never appeared over-awed or nervous either. Gunn has never really let us down, so I'm sure he'll be grand as well. Edited December 3, 2023 by Tartan Blood 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 2 hours ago, IrishBhoy said: Playing in the opening game will be class, there’s been some brilliant opening games between World Cups and Euros over the years, and a few shock results too. Senegal beating France in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup I think, and did South Africa cause an upset the year they hosted it? Can still remember running home from school in 1998 when Scotland v Brazil was the opening game, think I was in Primary 4 at the time, and being naive enough to think we had a chance at winning. That Brazil team was iconic; Taffarel, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Rivaldo, Dunga and R9, up against Tom Boyd and Colin Calderwood Mental that was 25 years ago. South Africa were shite unfortunately, and (IIRC) the first World Cup hosts to fail at the group stage. You might be thinking of Cameroon, who gloriously up-ended Argentina in 1990, back when the holders kicked the tournament off rather than the hosts. Argentina also lost their other opening game as holders, against Belgium in 1982. 5 minutes ago, Tartan Blood said: If Gordon can regain his fitness, I'd be happy to have him between the sticks. By god he deserves it. The thing I'm worried about is that there will be the best part of a billion eyes watching us against Germany. Robertson is probably the only player to experience the equivalent in a football match (champions league final). McTominay, Tierney, McGinn and McGregor have all played in big games, but nothing like this. Hopefully none of our players get overwhelmed by the occasion. This is why having previous tournament experience is going to be so vital. The Germans could still come off worst there. A huge match in front of their own fans against an improving diddy team they've never lost to in a meaningful game, at a time when they've been absolutely anyone's for the taking? That's a lot of pressure; prior German sides would've shrugged that off and done the necessary, but there's no sign that this vintage is cut from the same cloth. The pressure should be totally off Scotland; nobody's expecting us to beat Germany. All they really need to do on the day is keep the head and play like we know they can; nobody will be surprised if we lose to a dodgy penalty, or an own-goal off Grant Hanley's arse...or even if the Germans sort themselves out over the next eight months and become unstoppable again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirkieRR Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 Even if Germany get it together before the tournament, even at their best they are sometimes slow starters - as the truism goes, it's not how you start a tournament, it's how you finish it. They wouldn't be fazed by a draw or even a plucky Scottish win. They do what they had to v the Switzers and Hungars and move on from there. We haven't that luxury. These three games are our finals and anything else is just gravy. Be at our best, get something from Germany, and then engineer a win from the other two games, and the gravy can pour. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishBhoy Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 4 minutes ago, BFTD said: South Africa were shite unfortunately, and (IIRC) the first World Cup hosts to fail at the group stage. You might be thinking of Cameroon, who gloriously up-ended Argentina in 1990, back when the holders kicked the tournament off rather than the hosts. Argentina also lost their other opening game as holders, against Belgium in 1982. Yeah you’re right, for some reason I was certain South Africa had won their opening game, but I’ve just went and looked and they drew 1-1 with Mexico. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadasdillinger Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 Listening to Scottish Football Podcast earlier who were going through Hungary and Switzerlands recently results. Hungary qualified well, but didn't really meet anyone of note. Their recent big victory was 4-0 at home to England, which is obviously excellent. Otherwise the rest of their results came against so called easier sides. Switzerland's results in the last year or so are really nothing special. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraser Fyvie Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 4 hours ago, 2426255 said: Very hard to like his reserved public persona you mean? I think most people would like him in real life away from the spotlight. Nah. Reporter: "It's good for you to kick off the tournament against the hosts isnt it?" Clarke: "Why?" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 1 minute ago, deadasdillinger said: Listening to Scottish Football Podcast earlier who were going through Hungary and Switzerlands recently results. Hungary qualified well, but didn't really meet anyone of note. Their recent big victory was 4-0 at home to England, which is obviously excellent. Otherwise the rest of their results came against so called easier sides. Switzerland's results in the last year or so are really nothing special. They'd both probably say the same about us - a win against Spain in an otherwise mediocre group, only to be cuffed by any other half-decent side, and some poor recent results/performances against non-qualifiers like Eire and Armenia. I don't think that's fair either, of course. Hungary did remarkably well against England, Germany, and Italy recently - I don't think anyone would've expected us to do better - and the jury's still out on the Swiss as far I'm concerned. They can only beat what's in front of them, as the saying goes, and they did enough to qualify. We'll see if they are capable of pulling their fingers out when required. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 2 minutes ago, Fraser Fyvie said: Nah. Reporter: "It's good for you to kick off the tournament against the hosts isnt it?" Clarke: "Why?" I kinda like how he's a better Strachan when it comes to the press. Wee bit grouchy, but not egregiously or aggressively so, and isn't liable to come out with shite eugenics about Scots being inherently physically inferior, or garbage about it's bad for the game in Scotland for big teams to occasionally suffer the consequences of failure. He'll be as delighted as the rest of us to be a part of the big opener, but will be wanting to keep everyone focused on doing more than just taking part. He'll know we can do something very special here if everyone's well prepared and keeps their heads affixed. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2426255 Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 (edited) Pat Nevin is on record as saying Clarke is guarded around the press and for good reason. He also said away from the cameras he is likeable, funny and down to earth. Very Scottish imo, substance over style. Edited December 3, 2023 by 2426255 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2426255 Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 (edited) 29 minutes ago, BFTD said: I kinda like how he's a better Strachan when it comes to the press. Wee bit grouchy, but not egregiously or aggressively so, and isn't liable to come out with shite eugenics about Scots being inherently physically inferior, or garbage about it's bad for the game in Scotland for big teams to occasionally suffer the consequences of failure. He'll be as delighted as the rest of us to be a part of the big opener, but will be wanting to keep everyone focused on doing more than just taking part. He'll know we can do something very special here if everyone's well prepared and keeps their heads affixed. Probably most of his media is about playing things down as fan expectations normally don't take much to go off the scale, aided by the shit the headling media pump out. Who knows how he actually feels about it all personally. He might not like being the centre of attention and it's something he has to deal with. Edited December 3, 2023 by 2426255 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Tennis Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 1 hour ago, Tartan Blood said: All of the expectation will be on the hosts to win. If anyone is going to crumple under the pressure, it'll be the Germans. Yes, that's certainly what football history tells us. Good pont. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Tennis Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 1 hour ago, deadasdillinger said: Hungary qualified well, but didn't really meet anyone of note. Their recent big victory was 4-0 at home to England, which is obviously excellent. The game was away to England. It was staged in Wolverhampton. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 4 hours ago, IrishBhoy said: Playing in the opening game will be class, there’s been some brilliant opening games between World Cups and Euros over the years, and a few shock results too. Senegal beating France in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup I think, and did South Africa cause an upset the year they hosted it? Opening game results in WCs (since substituted hosts for holders) and Euros (since started it in 1984): World Cups 2006 Germany 4-2 Costa Rica 2010 South Africa 1-1 Mexico 2014 Brazil 3-1 Croatia 2018 Russia 5-0 Saudi Arabia 2022 Qatar 0-2 Ecuador Euros 1984 France 1-0 Denmark 1988 West Germany 1-1 Italy 1992 Sweden 1-1 France 1996 England 1-1 Switzerland 2000 Belgium 2-1 Sweden 2004 Portugal 1-2 Greece 2008 Switzerland 0-1 Czech Rep 2012 Poland 1-1 Greece 2016 France 2-1 Romania 2020 Italy 3-0 Turkey While not massively encouraging result-wise it suggests they're often quite tense affairs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dundeefc1783 Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 18 hours ago, Lurkst said: If we only have the €195 tickets available then I'm out. Will happily go to the last 2 games. Im the same. I'm on 14 points so should get tickets for all games not a fucking chance I'm paying that for a football match. Will just make do with the 2 other group games. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC92 Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 I don't think it's s bad draw at all. I wouldn't fancy us to beat any of the Pot 1 teams, but getting Germany in the opening game might have been the best possible combination of team and fixture order. It'll be a brilliant occasion and a chance to catch them cold in their first competitive game for 18 months, even if they do improve (which they almost certainly will). Hungary are a good team but have probably punched above their weight in the last couple of years relative to the quality in their squad on paper. A lot of their more impressive results have come against the big teams so they're maybe the most likely to give Germany a bloody nose, but they have also wobbled at times against more mediocre teams. They drew away to Bulgaria, Lithuania and Montenegro in this last campaign, relying on late equalisers in two of them, and they lost home and away to Albania in the World Cup qualifiers. Romania or Albania would probably have been better for us but I'm glad we avoided improving Austria and Turkey teams. Switzerland was a bit of a sore one from Pot 4, but they're in that pot for a reason despite a fairly soft group this time and I'd say only the Path A or Path C winners would've been obviously better options. Basically it's a middle-of-the-road group and if we can't finish 3rd in it then we've no business being in the knockout rounds anyway. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 1 hour ago, Fraser Fyvie said: Nah. Reporter: "It's good for you to kick off the tournament against the hosts isnt it?" Clarke: "Why?" Good comeback question from Stevie. It’s great for fans. Why is it great for the team? The team want to qualify. Surely they’d have preferred and easier first fixture to try and get an initial win. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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