3728: Scotland v. France: A Chance t

by : Hugh Larkin

One reasonable certainty from Scotland’s Euro 2008 qualifier with France is that Walter Smith’s side will do better than the last time the two sides met. That match was a friendly back in March 2002 which marked the beginning of Verti Vogts managerial rein. It ended 5-0 to France.

Vogts was supposedly experimenting in that first fixture but the caning from Thierry Henry and company set the tone for the German’s tenure. It started a period in charge that covered 32 games and produced just 9 victories and 16 defeats. By the time it was over, confidence in the Scottish squad was about as low as it could get.

Apologists for Vogts pointed out the dearth of talent to work with but there’s no doubt that Walter Smith quickly made a difference working with much the same players. Smith’s 14 games as boss has seen the Scots defeated only 3 times and progress has clearly been made.

No one is saying at this point that Scotland are ready to take on the world but the squad are at a stage where Scottish fans don’t have to watch through their fingers any more when a quality side like France come in to view.

Two wins in the first two group games have added to the optimism around the squad. It’s a measure of how far the nation’s stock had fallen that there’s a sense of relief that the Faroe Islands and Lithuania have been seen off but a win is a win and it builds on the momentum from the short summer tour to Japan. The Scots drew with Japan and destroyed Bulgaria 5-1 before the World Cup.

In their last four games Scotland have scored 13 times and conceded just twice; the standard of the opposition may not have been the highest quality but Bulgaria have begun the Euro 2008 qualifiers with a 3-0 win over Slovenia and an away draw in Rumania- highly respectable results.

Were it not for the unfeasibly difficult group that Walter Smith’s men find themselves in, optimism about a place at Euro 2008 might have spread across the country. However, when a team is placed in a section with the two teams that contested the World Cup Final, plus another that reached the last eight, the euphoria is dampened more than a little.

The main plus point is that expectation is reduced and the pressure on the squad is lowered. Walter Smith is an old hand and shows an admirable unwillingness to make unwise predictions- he may be taciturn to the point of dourness but that is exactly the sort of realism needed in these circumstances.

What the manager has been able to do is to reinvigorate old hands who were disillusioned under the dead hand of Verti Vogts, such as David Weir, Christian Dailly, Stephen Pressley etc. In the last match with Lithuania eight of the starting eleven had over 20 caps and only one- Paul Hartley- had single figures.

There are young players waiting in the wings like Kris Boyd, Graeme Murty and Chris Burke but for the moment Walter Smith has brought self-belief back to a bunch of players who took a collective battering during the Vogts era. It’s doubtful whether this resurgence can account for the likes of France and Italy though.

While qualification for Euro 2008 is still a possibility, Smith will probably use his experienced men in the main and gradually introduce his younger stars. If the likes of France and Italy pull away in the group, the chance will be there to begin blooding players ready for the 2010 World Cup qualification series.

A good part of Scottish pride has been restored and the next stage is to begin clawing a way back to the top table at international level. Walter Smith has put down solid foundations and a decent result against the French would continue the progress- it will certainly be a more pleasant experience than the last time.

Hugh Larkin
6 October 2006