Scotland is one of the oldest teams in the world, a member of the first ever match of football teams. She spent it on November 30, 1872 against the England team . The match ended in a draw - 0: 0.
Despite its history, Scotland has never achieved significant success in major international tournaments and has never left the group rounds of the World and European Championships. However, in many cases, the Scots were very close to entering the next stage. Since 1998, the team has not participated in any tournaments, as it either lost the coveted place in the tournament at the last moment or lost in butt games.
Scotland made its world debut in Switzerland in 1954 . Then she lost two games against future semi-finalists, the Austrians (who became bronze medalists), and the then-current world champion, Uruguay , having conceded 8 goals in two games.
After 4 years, Scotland again fell into the world championship with England, Wales and Northern Ireland . However, the Welsh and North Irish overcame the group stage. The Scots took only one point in the match with the Yugoslavs (the first goal of the team scored there, the author of which was Jimmy Murray ). In the remaining two meetings, despite stubborn resistance, the Scots lost 2: 3 to Paraguay (goals scored by Jackie Mudy and Bobby Collins ) and 1: 2 France ( Sammy Baird scored).
After that, the Scots could not get to the world championship for a long time, and they boycotted the first draws of the European Cup . Joining the qualification for the Euro, the Scots could not succeed for a long time.
They returned only to the world championship in 1974 . There, Scotland allowed Yugoslavia and Brazil (the reigning world champions) to come forward only due to the worst difference between the goals scored and the goals conceded, and they tied both of them (the two teams drew and among themselves, so the teams leaving the group decided on larger victories over Zaire ).
At the 1978 World Cup, Scotland won in the group a victory over the vice-world champion and future finalist of the tournament - the Netherlands national team , passing it forward again due to the difference in goals. She herself lost to the Peruvians 1: 3, and she split the world with the Iranian team , and the Scots equalized the score after the Iranian player’s own goal.
At the 1982 World Cup, Scotland first defeated the newcomers to the tournament - the New Zealand team with a score of 5: 2. This was followed by the defeat of the Brazilians 1: 4. In the last match against the USSR national team, the Highlanders had to win. They opened the scoring in the 15th minute, thanks to a shot by Joe Jordan , but in the second half they lost this advantage after the goals of the “Soviet Highlanders” Alexander Chivadze and Ramaz Shengelia . They managed to equalize 2 minutes after the goal of Shengelia - Graham Suness scored, but the Scots did not have more strength. As a result, the teams of Brazil and the USSR left the group (the latter - thanks to the better goal difference than the Scots).
After 4 years, at the world championship in Mexico, the Scots lost two matches between Denmark and Germany , but they still had a theoretical chance of an exit: they had to achieve victory over Uruguay, but the match ended in a goalless draw, despite the removal of the Uruguayan player in the first minute.
In 1990, the Scots had the most real chances to make it to the playoffs on the Italian World Cup - after an unexpected defeat from the Costa Rica national team, the Scots took over the Swedes . In the third round, it was necessary to win against Brazil or draw and hope for the defeat of Costa Rica from the Swedes. But in the 82nd minute, Luis “Muller” Antonio da Costa scored the winning goal, and in a parallel match, the Swedes were defeated by Costa Ricans. The British team flew out. The Scots missed the World Cup in the United States , finding themselves in 4th place in the UEFA qualifying group, taking only one point in two matches against Switzerland .
The last time the Scots played the World Cup in 1998 - then they again fell into the group of the Brazilians. This time, another Scandinavian team also played, this time the Norwegian team , as well as the Moroccan squad . The Scots again had chances to leave the group after losing to the Brazilians and exhausted by a draw from Norway - to exit it was necessary to defeat the Moroccans and hope for Brazil to win. But again, things didn’t go according to plan - the Scots were beaten 3-0, and the Norwegians won a sensational victory over the Brazilians and reached the next round.
More at the world championships at the moment the Scots did not make their way:
- The 2002 World Cup in the Republic of Korea and Japan was held without the participation of the Highlanders because of their own fault - on September 5, 2001, they lost the decisive match to the Belgians , who later went to the Far East .
- The 2006 World Cup in Germany also went without the Scots - on points they were far behind the Norwegians, who lost to the Czechs in the butt games.
- In the selection for the 2010 championship in South Africa, the Scots managed to lose the home game to the Macedonians , both meetings to the Dutch and score only one point in the game with the Norwegians, without scoring a single goal in two meetings. In terms of points, the Scots caught up with the Norwegians, but in view of the worst performance, they did not fall in second place, but the Norwegians were not allowed to play in butt games as the worst team of all who took second places.
- The 2014 World Cup in Brazil was also left without the Scots: the team took off already three rounds before the end of the qualifying tournament, losing 4 matches out of 7.
- The 2018 World Cup in Russia also went without Scotland - the Scots in their group took third place, leaving England and Slovakia ahead. The Scots scored an equal number of points with Slovakia, but lost to them in personal meetings.
- World Championships
- 1930 - 1938 - did not participate
- 1950 - qualified, but refused to participate
- 1954 - group stage
- 1958 - group stage
- 1962 - 1970 - did not qualify
- 1974 - 1990 - group stage
- 1994 - did not qualify
- 1998 - group stage
- 2002 - 2018 - did not qualify
The Scots only twice participated in the European championship. The first time they played in 1992 in Sweden. In view of the political situation in Europe, their opponent was the CIS team, not the USSR team. The Scots lost their chances of getting out after the first two rounds and before the third game they were allegedly spotted in a bar while drinking alcohol. However, they loudly “slammed the door” and sensationally defeated the CIS team 3-0, which caused a shock in the former Soviet Union.
4 years after EURO 1992, the Scots got to the European Championship in England . They took second place in the qualifying group, three points behind the Russian team , which showed the best results among all the teams in the qualifying cycle. However, the Scots managed to get ahead of the Greeks by 5 points, and the Finns by as much as 8 points.
In the final part, the Scots were not so successful - a zero draw with the Netherlands and a defeat from England left them little chance. In the last match, the Scots won 1-0 against Switzerland and could leave the group, squeezing the Dutch, who lost to the English 4-0 in a parallel match. According to fans who saw that match, the Scots cheered for the British and welcomed their every goal. But in the 78th minute, Patrick Kluivert plunged the Scots into shock, scoring a “prestige goal”. The Dutch reached the quarterfinals, and the Scots were left without a playoff.
More in EUR the Scots did not make their way. The selection for the 2000 championship was more or less for the Scots - the silver medalist of the last EURO Czech Republic won the first place with brilliance, having won all 10 games in the group, and the Scots were 7 points ahead of the closest pursuers from Estonia . In butt games, they hit the English and could for the first time since 1980 displace the English with EURO, but lost to them the first game 0: 2, and in the second meeting, the goal of Don Hutchinson was not even enough to transfer the game to overtime.
The Scots did not get to the Portuguese European Championship again - at the last moment, only a timely victory over the Lithuanians kept the second place for the Scots and did not allow the Iceland team , who lost 0-3 to the Germans, to break out into the butt games. The Scots got a powerful Dutch team, which managed not to get on the past world championship. In the first match, the Scots won in Glasgow with a score 1: 0 after the goal of James McFadden . However, in a return match, the furious Dutch team smashed Bertie Vogts's squad to smithereens, scoring 6 unanswered goals. The hat-trick was made by Ryud van Nistelrooy , veterans Frank de Boer , Andre Oyer and the rising star of the “orange” Wesley Sneijder marked the goal.
The Alpine European Championship was closer than ever to the Scots - they started “for health” and won a major victory over the Faroe Islands with a score of 6: 0, were able to deal with the Lithuanians and defeated the French twice, which threatened a “tricolor” failure to qualify for EURO after Zinedine Zidane left. On October 13, 2007, the Scots removed the Ukrainian team from the road and seemed to ensure that the Scottish squad got into EURO. But after 4 days, the Scots' relaxation led to the unexpected loss of the Georgian national team 0: 2, and “brave hearts” lost their chances of being hit. Only victory over Italy in the last match for the Scots could save them, but on November 17, the Italians took their lead, winning 2: 1. It was the collapse of the campaign.
The Scottish team was left without Euro 2012 : the loss of points in the very first game against the Lithuanians turned into big trouble for the team. Despite the fact that in a home meeting with Spain, the team fought the world champions and played a two-goal backlog, they failed to win. And the Czech team took the ticket to the butt games and, as it turned out, to the Euro: in the decisive match on September 3 the efforts of the Scots by Kenny Miller and Darren Fletcher went ahead twice, however, the retaliatory strike by Yaroslav Plashil and the frankly dubious penalty kick by Michal Kadlec left the team with the British islands again without participating in a major tournament.
She started the selection for Euro 2020 with a sensational defeat from the national team of Kazakhstan (0: 3), but then they won over San Marino (2: 0) and Cyprus, Oliver Burke (2: 1) scored the winning goal, then they also lost to Belgium ( 0: 3), in September they lost to the Russian team (1: 2), the only goal scored by John McGinn.
The following players were called to the team by head coach Steve Clark to participate in the matches of the qualifying tournament of the European Championship 2020 against the Russian team (September 6, 2019) and the Belgian team (September 9, 2019).
- Games and goals for September 9, 2019
| No. | Position | Player | Date of birth / age | Matches | Goals | Club |
|---|
| VR | David marshall | March 5 1985 (34 years old) | 31 | 0 | Wigan Athletic |
| VR | John McLaughlin | September 9 1987 (32 years old) | one | 0 | Sunderland |
| VR | Craig McGillivray | January 12 1993 (26 years old) | 0 | 0 | Portsmouth |
|
|---|
| Defense | Charlie Mulgrew | March 6 1986 (33 years old) | 43 | 3 | Wigan Athletic |
| Defense | Andrew Robertson | March 11 1994 (25 years old) | 32 | 3 | Liverpool |
| Defense | Stephen O'Donnell | May 11 1992 (27 years old) | eleven | 0 | Kilmarnock |
| Defense | David bates | October 5 1996 (22 years old) | four | 0 | Sheffield Wensday |
| Defense | Liam Cooper | August 30 1991 (28 years old) | 2 | 0 | Leeds United |
| Defense | Greg Taylor | November 5 1997 (21 years old) | one | 0 | Celtic |
| Defense | Michael Devlin | October 3 1993 (25 years old) | 0 | 0 | Aberdeen |
|
|---|
| PP | Robert Snodgrass | September 7 1987 (32 years old) | 27 | 7 | West Ham United |
| PP | John McGinn | October 18 1994 (24 years old) | 17 | one | Aston Villa |
| PP | Stuart Armstrong | March 30 1992 (27 years old) | 16 | one | Southampton |
| PP | Callum McGregor | June 14 1993 (26 years old) | fifteen | 0 | Celtic |
| PP | Scott McTominey | December 8 1996 (22 years old) | eleven | 0 | Manchester United |
| PP | Kenny Macklin | January 8 1992 (27 years old) | 10 | one | Norwich city |
| PP | Ryan Christie | February 22 1995 (24 years old) | 7 | 0 | Celtic |
| PP | Ryan jack | February 27 1992 (27 years old) | 2 | 0 | Rangers |
|
|---|
| Nap | Stephen Naismith | September 14 1986 (33 years old) | 49 | 9 | Heart of Midlothian |
| Nap | James Forrest | July 7 1991 (28 years old) | 31 | 5 | Celtic |
| Nap | Matt Phillips | March 13 1991 (28 years old) | 16 | one | West Bromwich Albion |
| Nap | Johnny russell | April 8 1990 (29 years old) | 13 | one | Sporting Kansas City |
| Nap | Ryan Fraser | February 24 1994 (25 years old) | 10 | one | Bournemouth |
| Nap | Oliver McBurney | June 4 1996 (23 years old) | 8 | 0 | Sheffield United |
Scotland
Scotland 0: 0 England 
Uruguay 7: 0 Scotland 
