Scotland's epic rollercoaster to World Cup on night of incredible drama at Hampden
By hook or by crook, Scotland are at the World Cup after unreal scenes at Hampden
Oh, this was epic. Oh Scotland, why do you do this to your fans? Having had lift off, literally, through Scott McTominay’s overhead wonder goal, they were the architects of their own downfall not once but twice against the ten men of Denmark. A familiar feeling of woe fell across Hampden.
Step forward Kieran Tierney. The Celtic full back is no longer an automatic starter for Scotland but he enhanced his status here with an injury time goal to put the Scots 3-2 up that will be treasured like those such as Joe Jordan’s header against Czechoslovakia in 1973. And yet it wasn’t even the best goal of the night. It might not even have been the second best.
Kenny McLean struck a 50-yarder to secure Scotland’s passage to the World Cup. And yes, you read that right. Got any plans next summer? You do now. When you go will you send back a letter from America. Or Canada. Or Mexico. It doesn't matter. Scotland are there. They are back. Steve Clarke, you're immortal.
Of course, it wasn’t easy. Of course Scotland did it the hardest way possible. Having at one point, after substitute Lawrence Shankland netted from close range, been just 12 minutes plus injury time away, the World Cup suddenly felt like a tall order when the Danes, one player light after Rasmus Kristensen was sent off on the hour mark for a second bookable offence, equalised through Patrick Dorgu. He finished precisely into the corner with eight minutes left after a defensive fankle in which Tierney was partly culpable. Shankland had tapped over the line just three minutes earlier following a Lewis Ferguson corner to set pulses racing again.
To so quickly see hopes flattened again was brutal. The notion that somehow the stars were aligning for Scotland after such a long exile felt preposterous. But these stars were arranging themselves in Scotland’s favour. They just took their time about it. Tierney curled in from 25 yards after a Danish mis-kick. What the was the full back, who replaced Aaron Hickey on the right, even doing there? Who cares? McLean put the icing on the World Cup cake eight minutes into injury time when he lobbed Kasper Schmeichel from his own half. What a game, what a night.
There was more incident in the opening twenty minutes than most games have in 90. Scotland might have wished the final whistle could have sounded at that point midway through the first half. It would have avoided a lot of trouble, a lot of strife.
A cruel blow when Doak went off
They had scored an exceptional goal but they had also seen one of their star players, the provider of said amazing strike from McTominay, carried off on a stretcher around the rain drenched athletics’ track. Ben Gannon-Doak’s departure felt like a potentially defining moment.
Talk about contrasting emotions. Hampden suddenly fell into a funk. The drama had begun before kick-off when television cameras picked out Grant Hanley bobbing up and down in the tunnel in a belated bid to properly warm up. This was notable because he hadn’t actually featured in the starting XI issued. Scott McKenna had taken his place, as expected. McKenna duly won his 48th cap in the centre of defence. It was John Souttar who had dropped out in the dressing room after picking up an injury in the warm-up.
Hanley’s no Ronaldo, far from it, but it felt a bit like when the striker appeared at the World Cup final against France in 1998 to everyone’s surprise having been initially omitted from the original line-up.
Speaking of Brazilian legends…The game had barely started before Pele was evoked, although an association with the bicycle kick is now perhaps something a Scottish footballer can boast, as hard to believe as that might be. Youngsters all over Scotland and beyond will be doing themselves a mischief trying to execute a “McTominay”.
Sorry Archie, it’s over. As in, the reign as the scorer of Scotland’s greatest goal. The fear was of course that like Archie Gemmill’s solo strike against the Netherlands at the 1978 World Cup, it might not count for anything tangible. No worries on that front now.
It was upgraded in status from goal of the season to goal of the decade by the Tannoy announcer at the time. By half time, our friend with the microphone had finally settled for goal of the century.
McTominay’s magic
Do such goals get scored just four minutes in? This one was, too early some fretted. But not before an outbreak of bedlam experienced only very rarely at Hampden. A poor clearance from Mikkel Damsgaard was punished in a way he could never have imagined. Gannon-Doak took possession of the ball, cut inside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and floated in a ball towards the penalty spot.
McTominay did what he does, most recently to seal the Serie A title for Napoli against Cagliari. His instep was higher than the crossbar when he made contact with the ball having flipped himself into the air.
McTominay celebrated wildly in front of the main stand. Clarke motioned at him to keep calm and sought to impart this message to the team, but it was easier said than done. Denmark had already begun to impose themselves before Gannon-Doak’s desperately unfortunate departure after collapsing to the turf with what looked like a hamstring injury. It robbed Scotland of the player able to get them up the park.
Ryan Christie was deployed further up, with Kenny McLean sent on to patrol the middle with Lewis Ferguson. Scotland completely lost their way and getting to half-time still ahead felt like an achievement.
It didn’t last. It couldn’t. Robertson was penalised, eventually, for a clumsy foul on Gustav Isaksen on the edge of the box eight minutes after half time. A VAR check did for the Scotland skipper. Rasmus Hojlund sent Craig Gordon the wrong way from the spot. It was only the start of the see-sawing emotions experienced in the second half but Scotland got there. By hook or by crook, they got there.
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