Scotland Nations League Preview: Croatia and Portugal
STEVE Clarke made a nation dream again. But, is his tenure spiralling into a nightmare scenario?
Scotland are on the brink of relegation from League A of the Nations League as Steve Clarke’s side prepare for a huge double header against Croatia and Portugal.
The Tartan Army have won just one of their previous 12 outings, including the two defeats and one draw suffered at Euro 2024, leaving many fans questioning Clarke’s future.
Scotland head to Croatia off the back of two defeats from two in the Nations League, League A: Group 1, and while the general consensus is that the Scots are punching above their weight in this division, there are murmurs that depending on how events play out, Clarke could find himself on the hot seat.
23 long years passed by without kilts, sporrans, and booze fuelled Scots fans at a major tournament. Over two decades in which the baton of Scotland boss passed 11 sets of hands.
But in 2019 our prayers were answered, and a gift from the footballing gods came to Hampden in the form of 55-year-old Saltcoats native Steve Clarke.
The former Kilmarnock boss lifted the mood across the country and before we knew it the Tartan Army had qualified for back-to-back European Championships for the first time ever, and two major tournaments in the space of three years.
Thousands of supporters dared to dream over the summer, descending on Germany in their masses to enjoy a major tournament on foreign soil for the first time since France 1998. But with the anticipation came expectation. An architect of his own downfall Clarke has set the bar to an almost unreachable height for the current crop of players.
And without key squad members to turn to, John McGinn and Kieran Tierney both out injured, Clarke’s nightmare run of fixtures won’t be accommodated much.
The silver lining is that injuries have forced the Scotland gaffer to cast his attention to some new faces. Aberdeen duo Jack McKenzie and Nicky Devlin have been rewarded for their performances at the high-flying Dons with invitations to their first squad, as have West Ham midfielder Andy Irving and Preston North End’s Liam Lindsay.
Despite a somewhat depleted squad the Scots do welcome a rejuvenated Scott McTominay to the camp alongside new Napoli pal Billy Gilmour with the ex-Manchester United forward thriving in the Italian topflight.
There are also smatterings of exciting ball playing midfielders such as Ryan Gauld and young Ben Doak on hand to inject that creativity into the side.
While up front Che Adams will look to continue his club form having scored three times for Torino since his summer switch from Southampton.
With plenty of attacking options impressing at club level Clarke’s headache is primarily at the back, with captain Andy Robertson and Norwich City’s Grant Hanley the only veterans on hand. But when Cristiano Ronaldo enters the field of play at Hampden Park on Tuesday he’ll do so with over 200 caps under his belt, more than Clarke’s entire defence.
It’s set to be a tough couple of fixtures for the Scots facing two Ballon d’Or winning captains, Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo, in the space of four days. History suggests the Portuguese fixture will prove the tougher of the two with the Scots winless against the 2016 European champions since 1980. As for the Croats, Scotland boast a slightly better record having won two, drawn three and losing just once, the devastating 3-1 defeat at Hampden Park in the Euro 2020 group stage.
With a fairly makeshift squad at his disposal it looks like Clarke is in for another difficult round of fixtures against Europe’s elite.
