28 Years Later

 It's June 10, 1998. 

I'm rushing home from school in order to catch the first game of the 1998 World Cup. The World Champions Brazil kicking off the tournament. The tradition for years being that the Champions would kick off the tournament, something that would last until 2006, when Germany opened the tournament as hosts.

Their opponents that day? A country of about five million, playing in their eighth World Cup. They'd made every one since 1974, with the exception of 1994, the previous one in the United States. Their sixth appearance in seven World Cups.

Scotland.

A brave effort that day in the Stade de France saw a narrow 2-1 defeat, with a John Collins penalty cancelling out a César Sampaio opener after five minutes, before the ball cannoned off Tom Boyd for an own goal in the second half to give the defending Champions the win. Scotland would then take on Norway - another country who have had a long absence from this stage, just ended, and draw 1-1 through a Craig Burley goal in Bordeaux, before an absolute battering by Morocco ended Scotland's hopes.

They, we, haven't been back since. 28 years of absences from the world's biggest stage. A 28 year drought from the World Cup. Japan and South Korea. Germany. South Africa. Brazil. Russia. Qatar. They've all come and gone without the Tartan Army.

In fact, it was 23 years of absences from both the World Cup AND the Euros…until that famous night in Serbia. We all remember what happened. David Marshall saved Mitrovic's penalty and gained the freedom of Scotland in the process, and goalscorer Ryan Christie cried in that interview afterwards. He cried. I cried. You cried. We all cried. Scotland boogied. Baccara's record sales went significantly up. We were back.

Didn't quite go to plan at the tournament itself, mind you. Two defeats at Hampden, including Marshall being chipped by Patrick Schick from about 2 million miles out, and a Luka Modric masterclass, sandwiched in-between a draw with England, where Phil Foden got a wee haircut for that game and then got ragdolled for 90 minutes by a Motherwell defender. And that was that for Scotland's involvement in Euro 2020.

A spirited campaign for the 2022 World Cup ended in the same way that 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 did, with Scotland not going to the World Cup. We went from the close calls to the absolute batterings and back again in that time.

Euro 2024 qualifying saw five straight wins, a turnaround in Oslo and a 90 minute wait in the rain to beat Georgia at Hampden, and a second successive Euros. 200,000 of us, including your writer, went to Germany and had the time of our lives. At least off the park.

On the park? A 5-1 battering by the hosts Germany in the opening game in Munich - that one didn't go as well as the 1998 effort - a game 1-1 draw with Switzerland where Scott McTominay scored and I broke my phone charger celebrating in Cologne’s fanzone, then partied outside Cologne Cathedral until 3 in the morning - and the heartbreak of the 100th minute defeat to Hungary. Same old story, though. Out in the groups. Again.

But it was different. In a way. We were at the party. We left early, as we always seem to do. But we made it to the finals.

Just six years ago, we were losing 3-0 to Kazakhstan and wondering if we were ever going to qualify again. “Kazakhstan go chasing a fourth”, as that infamous tweet went. Alex McLeish went, another manager who failed to follow in the footsteps of Craig Brown, following Berti Vogts, Walter Smith, McLeish (the first time), George Burley, Craig Levein and Gordon Strachan.

There were close calls, of course. The win and in against then World Champions Italy in 2007, where we went behind in the second minute, pulled out a probably offside and would be ruled out by VAR nowadays equaliser by Barry Ferguson, then Alan Hutton got fouled by Chiellini, and somehow it was given the other way. Free kick in the box, 2-1 Italy, game over. Qualification over. The 2009 loss to the Netherlands, where a win would've taken us to the Playoffs. A 2003 6-0 hammering by the same opposition after a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture. A shocking penalty for the Czech Republic in 2011, then being denied a blatant penalty ourselves, essentially ending our hopes for Euro 2012. Beating Slovakia 1-0 in the final minute, just needing to beat Slovenia to make the playoffs, and drawing 2-2 in 2017. And of course, Georgia. TWICE.

In June 2019, in came Steve Clarke, and changed the trajectory of the Scotland team. Two penalty wins after a turgid Euro 2020 qualification campaign, and we were back at the show. And the aforementioned joy of the Euro 2024 qualifiers.

Two Euros later, the campaign to get to the 2026 World Cup began in September. A strong draw against Denmark to begin the campaign, followed by a 2-0 win over Belarus.

October followed, and two absolutely woeful performances against Greece and Belarus. Bullied for an hour against Greece and outplayed by Belarus. 

And what did we get out of that? Well...six points. How very…not Scotland. Usually we do the glorious failure route, not the inglorious success.

And then Saturday night. 3-0 down against Greece and staring down the barrel of Playoffs once again, with Denmark 1-0 up. Then, goals from Ben Gannon-Doak and Christie, coupled with Belarus springing a massive shock on Denmark to not only equalise, but to take the lead. A minnow of World Football doing Scotland a massive favour. Denmark equalised, and Scotland didn't, but it didn't matter. In the most unlikely of circumstances, Scotland's bid for automatic qualification survived in stunning circumstances.

So here we are. 28 Years Later. 28 years after France 98, and our best chance to break that drought, break that absence from World Football's biggest tournament. Another win and in, this time against Denmark, a team we beat 2-0 on the final day of 2022 qualifying, although that just sealed a playoff that we'd lose to Ukraine at Hampden.

This time around though, it's for all the marbles. Denmark get through with a draw. Scotland must win, or face the lottery of the Playoffs once again. But after 28 years away, the World Cup is potentially beckoning once more.

All we've got to do is win, and take it. To take our place back at the top table, amongst the elite in World Football, back at the World Cup.

28 Years Later.