I’m now five years into my Championship Manager 99/00 series with Scotland. By now, you were probably expecting me to have been sacked after a 2-0 home defeat to Andorra, which is typically how most Scotland managers end their reigns. Either that, or they get poached by Chesterfield.
But no, it’s gone surprisingly well for us… well, kinda. The previous chapter saw us take part in the 2004 European Championship in Portugal. That’s all I want to say right now.
In today’s installment, our focus is on the first half of the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. Can the Tartan Army take its first steps towards invading England in two summers’ time?
SEPTEMBER 2004
It had been a sad summer for Scottish football, and it got sadder still when the larger-than-life Andy Goram confirmed his retirement. I never added to the veteran goalkeeper’s 42 caps, but I for one would miss Andy. I’d even hire him as a coach if I could.
A more significant loss to me was Celtic’s 34-year-old midfielder Paul Lambert, who was also capped 42 times before his international career ended in disappointment at Euro 2004. Centre-back Brian McAllister had also been a regular fixture for me, but at 33, his Scotland days were over too.
Only a handful of players remained from the squad I’d inherited from Craig Brown in 1999. This was very much my team now, and we now had to prepare for a new challenge.
We were the highest-ranked team in our 2006 World Cup qualifying group, though Bulgaria and the Czech Republic would be serious challengers. Albania and Israel had some handy players themselves and would perhaps be ‘spoilers’. And then there were the minnows from San Marino, who had won one match in their international football history…
Our first match was against an Israel side spearheaded by Leeds winger Yossi Benayoun. Chelsea striker Paul Dalglish wouldn’t join us in Tel-Aviv, partly because he was too traumatised from being injured in a pre-season friendly at Maccabi Netanya. Also, his ankle ligaments were still in shreds.
A torn groin muscle had sidelined a second striker in Celtic’s Mark Burchill, but these were the 26 men who did make it to Israel:
GOALKEEPERS: Alan Combe, Robert Douglas, Andy McPherson
DEFENDERS: Russell Anderson, Steven Hammell, Kevin James, Kevin McCann, Stuart McCaffrey, Craig McCulloch, Jackie McNamara, Gary Naysmith, Paul Ritchie
MIDFIELDERS: Iain Anderson, Michael Balfour, Baldur Bett, Barry Ferguson, Willie Howie, Eoin Jess, Allan Johnston, Neil McCann, Mark McCormick, Marvyn Wilson, Robert Wilson
FORWARDS: Marc Anthony, David Cameron, Jermaine McSporran
Only 11 players were in double figures for caps, highlighting just how much experience we had lost from Burchill (who was still only 24, would you believe). I brought in four uncapped players, whom I have highlighted below:
Legendary Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson won only two caps in the 1970s, but Robert Wilson will surely enjoy a longer Scotland career. The tough-tackling 19-year-old midfielder started in each of West Ham’s first four Premiership matches this season as George Graham’s side took an early lead. Is he the heir to Lambert’s throne?
Another midfielder worth looking at is 24-year-old Baldur Bett from Birmingham. Though born in Iceland (hence the name), Baldur is now following in the footsteps of his dad Jim, who went to two World Cups with Scotland. This intelligent workhorse caught my eye when he scored for our ‘B’ team against Turkey in April, as did…
…Jermaine McSporran. The 27-year-old Mancunian of Scottish heritage is a flamboyant and pacey poacher, though he has yet to score for Tottenham since joining them from Nottingham Forest in February. Our fourth rookie is 23-year-old Charlton centre-back Kevin McCann, who came through Partick’s youth system at the same time as Howie.
Speaking of Willie, the ‘Scottish Sorcerer’ has moved yet again, joining Sunderland for £6.25million from Manchester City. After being relegated with FOUR different Premiership clubs, the young midfielder might finally settle down on Wearside. The Mackems are a consisent top-eight club and reached two UEFA Cup Finals recently.
So… Israel away. Should be simple enough, right?
ISRAEL 2-1 SCOTLAND (2006 World Cup Qualifying – UEFA Group 8, Match 1)
I don’t know what happened here, but we’d made the worst possible start. McSporran had a debut to forget, missing the target with all three of his shots. Neil McCann was a tad more threatening from midfield, but he needed a 28th-minute penalty to break the deadlock after being fouled by Baruch Dago.
Israel had been a constant attacking threat, and two goals either side of half-time turned the tide in their favour. After Yossi Benayoun’s cross was headed in by the versatile Salim Ghrayib for an equaliser, the pair switched roles to produce a second goal early in the second half.
The Blue-and-Whites then sat deep to frustrate us, and we toiled to possibly my most disappointing result as manager. To make matters worse, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic had each won their opening games – 3-0 vs Albania, and 3-1 vs San Marino respectively.
OCTOBER 2004
Successive home games against Bulgaria and Albania were next on our schedule. Maximum points were a must if our dream of qualifying for the World Cup on English soil wasn’t to be strangled at birth.
We went into our Hampden Park double-header without Iain and Russell Anderson, who were both out with groin injuries. Rangers striker Michael Craig returned as a replacement for Wigan’s Dave Cameron, who’d only been in the last squad to make up the numbers. Blackburn defender Alan Archibald and Hearts midfielder Jamie McKenzie were also back in favour.
Just a fortnight after joining Charlton for a cool £5million, and barely 24 hours before we hosted Bulgaria, Bett suffered a chest injury that ruled him out. Having just scored for the Under-21s in their 2-0 win over their Bulgarian counterparts, 19-year-old St Johnstone midfielder Stuart Ferguson was promoted in Baldur’s place.
And that wasn’t all! McCaffrey had hurt his shoulder, so there was a recall for 34-year-old Everton defender David Weir. To be fair, Davie was still doing a decent job for the Toffees, who were relegated to Division 1 last season. (I must also add that, in real life, Weir won his final Scotland cap aged 40. That’s longevity.)
But that STILL wasn’t all! Barry Ferguson (now playing for Deportivo after leaving Real Madrid) had strained his wrist, and McCann had a dodgy groin, which meant neither man was fit to start. Could a makeshift Scottish side, then, beat the Bulgarians at Hampden for the second time in two years?
SCOTLAND 2-0 BULGARIA (2006 World Cup Qualifying – UEFA Group 8, Match 2)
Of course, it was never in doubt! Left-back Hammell showed why he was averaging 8.36 for Manchester United by hammering in our first goal after six minutes. About a quarter-hour later, we saw Howie double our lead with one of his trademark dribble-goals – his 11th strike for Scotland in just 27 caps.
The killer blow to Bulgaria, though, came just before half-time. Robert Wilson gave away a penalty for an unfair challenge on Valeri Dimitrov, and so Bulgaria captain Doncho Donev stepped up for the chance to halve his team’s deficit. Douglas made a superb save before James cleared to keep the score at 2-0, which was how it remained.
The Czechs were the only team in our group to win their opening two fixtures, though they only just scraped past Israel. Meanwhile, our next opponents Albania defeated San Marino 2-0 through goals from midfielder Edmond Abazai and winger Andy Spencer… hey, hang on, something’s not right there!
Interestingly, Albania have had quite a few British regens of dual Albanian nationality – all with very un-Albanian names. The best of them was midfielder Danny McDonald, who’d played over 100 league games for Middlesbrough but was absent through injury.
SCOTLAND 2-0 ALBANIA (2006 World Cup Qualifying – UEFA Group 8, Match 3)
With Albania getting men behind the ball from the start, we dominated the first half, yet couldn’t turn that into a lead. Visiting goalkeeper Adrian Vuthi was a huge source of our frustration, producing a couple of fantastic quickfire saves to deny James in the 16th minute.
I fired my underperforming stars up at half-time and made some changes to get us firing again. McSporran came off the bench to join McCann and Anthony up front, and he almost got his first Scotland goal within five minutes. Vuthi got his fingertips to the ball, but James was on hand to convert the rebound and break the deadlock!
Albania then came out to play, putting our defence under pressure midway through the first half. That ended when Douglas punched away a corner, which Barry Ferguson played forward to a prowling Anthony, who broke away and fired in his 20th goal for his country. With that, the points were ours.
The Czech Republic had continued their winning start by seeing off Bulgaria in a five-goal thriller. Israel leapfrogged us into 2nd with a 5-0 pasting of San Marino.
NOVEMBER 2004
As you can imagine, I was pretty sick of playing friendlies against Austria. Imagine my delight, then, when the SFA informed me that we would end our year by visiting Switzerland – specifically, the Wankdorf stadium in Bern. (No laughing at the back!)
McNamara was now our most experienced player – with 35 caps – but he wouldn’t play in this fixture. Jackie had torn his groin muscle in Celtic’s League Cup match against Division 2 leaders Alloa, which the off-colour Bhoys lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw. On the plus side, Burchill scored twice in that game after recovering from injury.
Bett, Callaghan, McCaffrey and Russell Anderson all joined Burchill in returning to the squad. Craig, Jess, McKenzie and Weir were the men who made way.
A thigh injury ruled Archibald out a few days before we headed to Switzerland, so I decided to bring through another rising star. 20-year-old right-back Brian Donaldson had broken into Tottenham’s starting line-up this season, displaying great stamina and positional awareness.
You remember that flat 3-5-2 I tested out in the previous chapter? I went for a slightly different version here, with the two widemen playing as attacking wing-backs. If this could help us pose more of a threat going forward, while also keeping us solid at the back, maybe it would become my new go-to system.
Or maybe we would flatter to deceive against Switzerland and only muster a draw…
SWITZERLAND 1-1 SCOTLAND (Friendly)
McSporran had recently hit form for Tottenham, and it took him just nine minutes to break his Scotland duck at the fourth attempt. Aberdeen goalkeeper McPherson marked his first start with a booming goal kick to McSporran, who cut through the Swiss defence like a knife through cheese and powered home.
Our lead lasted until the 27th minute, when Nantes’ Gaetano Giallanza half-volleyed in Switzerland’s equaliser from a cross by veteran midfielder Ciriaco Sforza. The rest of the first half was very closely-fought, and though we took the game to our hosts in the second, a winner was not forthcoming.
But hey, I wasn’t going to complain about an away draw against a team of Switzerland’s calibre. I went into 2005 quietly confident that we were still on the right track.
FEBRUARY 2005
2005 was looking like being Rangers’ year. Though Anthony had not replicated his magnificent scoring form from last season, the Gers – now coached by John Deehan – were running away with the Scottish Premier League. Celtic had pulled themselves back up to 3rd after a shaky start, but it was Aberdeen who sat in 2nd at the end of January.
Juventus had recovered from losing their first group match against Boca and lifted the Club World Championship. The Champions League holders won 2-1 against Bayern München, though not before Edwin Van der Sar saved a late penalty from Thomas Gravesen that would’ve drawn Bayern level.
Juve were also set to become Italian champions for the first time since 1998, while Barcelona closed in on a fourth straight La Liga title. Meanwhile, the Premiership had developed into a three-way battle between Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester United.
In transfer news, Hammell’s meteoric rise continued when he moved from Manchester United to Inter for £14million.
But now our focus was on the first match of the new year. The Czech Republic would provide our toughest test yet in Prague, as they went for a fourth straight victory.
Johnston had to serve a suspension, which meant a return for St Johnstone winger Martin Lauchlan. Archibald and Burchill were also recalled following injuries, taking the places of Kevin McCann and Callaghan respectively. Uncapped Everton midfielder Ken Rafferty (age 26) came in for the injured Marvyn Wilson.
CZECH REPUBLIC 0-4 SCOTLAND (2006 World Cup Qualifying – UEFA Group 8, Match 4)
I did not see that coming. Stevie Hammell made Pavel Nedved and Co look like amateurs with a stunning performance from left-back!
After a close-fought start, Hammell helped break the deadlock in the 14th minute with a fine cross that was tapped in by Burchill. Then, just before half-time, another delivery found his right-back colleague McCulloch, whose cross-shot somehow found the back of Petr Kouba’s net!
Hammell then got on the scoresheet himself in the 51st minute, dribbling past midfielders Nedved and Tomas Galasek before increasing our lead to 3-0. Robert Wilson got the assist for that goal, and he set up another for Dalglish seven minutes later to complete the ‘Defenestration of Prague’. (I’m sure the Scottish Sun will come up with a snappier headline.)
A stunning performance propelled us to the top of the group on head-to-head. Elsewhere, Albania leapfrogged Israel into 3rd by defeating them 2-1, while San Marino beat Bulgaria by the same score…
MARCH 2005
That shock result in Serravalle had put a different spin on our next match at Hampden against the group’s so-called minnows. We certainly couldn’t afford to show complacency here, or we’d be looking very silly indeed.
That said, I did find room in my squad for yet another rising star in 20-year-old Rangers defender Jim Walker. The cool-headed centre-back had been in the Gers’ first-team set-up since he was 17 and was also a regular for Scotland Under-21s, where he’d developed a knack for scoring penalties.
Walker had replaced Ritchie, who was suspended. Johnston returned from his ban to oust Lauchlan, while Stuart Ferguson drop out for the fit-again Marvyn Wilson.
McCulloch was going to sit this game out as I didn’t want him suspended from the visit of Israel next month. Sadly, he tore a groin muscle in Arsenal’s Champions League group game against Porto, ending his season early. At any rate, he was replaced by Jackie McNamara, despite the veteran being ousted from Celtic’s starting XI by Danny Butterfield.
SCOTLAND 2-0 SAN MARINO (2006 World Cup Qualifying – UEFA Group 8, Match 4)
We won, but I’m frustrated. I think ‘Ennio De Cillis’ must be an alias for Gianluigi Buffon, because San Marino’s goalkeeper made FOURTEEN saves and was almost unbeatable. Almost.
The only mistake Ennio De Buffon made all game was after half an hour, when he let a long-range shot from Howie slip past his fingers. That was a fitting way for Willie to mark his first match as captain, with Douglas on the bench and James missing out to avoid a potential suspension.
The only shot to beat Gigi De Cillis was a 55th-minute penalty, which Neil McCann converted after Dalglish’s shirt was pulled by defender Pierfrancesco Viali. That was enough to keep us top of Group 8 ahead of the Czechs, who won 2-1 in Albania, from whom Israel retook 3rd by heaping more misery on Bulgaria.
Put that first game aside, and Scotland’s qualifying campaign has actually gone pretty well so far! Be sure to come back here on Friday, when we’ll look to secure our place at England 2006.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
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