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GLASGOW, Scotland – They came to Hampden Park hoping for a night to remember, but in the end, the success of the starving Scottish success had to come to terms with a goal they will never forget. Croatia’s 3-1 victory in Glasgow secured the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup finalists for the 18th round, but Luka Modric’s stunning second-half strike ended Scottish dreams of ending their perennial tournament difficulties.
Scotland could not advance to the group stage in more than a dozen previous appearances in the grand finals, either the World Cup or the European Championships. Their dubious difference from eight failures to reach the World Cup relegation rounds is still a record – and they have not appeared in any World Cup since 1998.
But this time had to be different. Steve Clarke’s team, which had ended Scotland’s 23-year wait while appearing in the big tournament, faced Croatia knowing that a home-crunch victory would eventually end its long wait. Friday’s 0-0 draw against England at Wembley had allowed the Scots to approach this game with honor close enough to the touch.
And when Scottish fans – known as Tartan’s army – landed on trains in Hampden at Mount Florida Station, there was a concrete feeling that they really felt it was their time.
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But Modric, 35-year-old Maestro from Croatia, came along to kill the festive mood. His 62nd goal goal, a majestic shot from 20 yards outside his right foot, scored 2-1 to Croatia and left Scotland with a virtually impossible task to score twice in less than half an hour to win the game. It also saw him become Croatia’s oldest scorer in the eurozone, 13 years since his youngest result, and a goal against Austria in Euro 2008.
“Against that, you’re at that level,” Callum McGregor of Scotland said of Modric’s goal. “It was a difficult lesson.”
McGregor’s 42-minute Scottish goal, which overturned Nikola Vlasic’s 17-minute opening run, gave the Scots hope for a second-half rise to victory. It also raised decibel levels at the stadium, which was limited to only 12,000 supporters due to COVID-19 regulations.
Scotland, without Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour due to a positive COVID-19 test, was straight and shamelessly targeted strikers Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams with long balls. They were energetic and prepared to receive the Croatians in a physical battle.
But their inability to control possession was always a problem against as cunning and experienced a team as Croatia. Scotland let Zlatko Dalic’s team transfer them to submission in many ways, just as they did for England in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, when Modric was again the ball’s leader and director.
Modric further enhanced his performance by moving Ivan Perisic’s head to Croatia’s third place in the 77th minute to seal the victory, confirming Group D’s second place behind England.
Croatia is a quality team. Yes, they are a bunch of older players who may be playing in the last big tournament, but people like Modric, Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic can hurt anyone, and the defensive partnership between Dejan Lovren and Domagoj Vida is rugged and determined enough. fight against teeth and claws against all opponents. No team will be able to face Croatia in the playoffs. They know how to win and were perhaps the worst team in Scotland due to their ability to control the game.
“We had a great team,” said Scottish midfielder John McGinn. “And they have experience in big tournaments and they showed it today.”
However, the quality of Croatia is no consolation to Scots, who have seen progress like the major stages of big tournaments like Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and even Iceland, sometimes on the first attempt. Greece even managed to win one.
It’s now 11 tournaments and counts for Scotland, and who knows when they’ll even have a chance to get another shot to get out of the group? Since you haven’t made it to the World Cup this century, don’t bank them to play in Qatar next year.
The pain of the Scots is that there have been so many near failures, and this was that they only had to win the home game.
Four times they have been denied entry by goal difference. In 1974, when the team released a tournament song called “Easy, Easy,” Scotland became the first team to leave the World Cup without losing the game – but they still couldn’t escape the group. Four years later, coach Ally MacLeod praised his Scottish party for winning the Argentine World Cup, but after a draw and defeat with Iran in Peru, they were on their first home flight again. At Euro 96, Scotland had 12 minutes to go from the group, just to get Patrick Kluivert’s 78th goal to score a 4-1 loss to the Dutch against England so the Dutch could ban the Scots from the goal difference.
Against Croatia, the fans made enough noise to drive Scotland to victory, but the game was ended on the field and not in the stands. It was clear from the initial stages that there was only one winner.
If Modric had Modric on his team, they would probably have gotten through. But Modric is a Croatian magician and Scotland can only hope to find his own next attempt to escape the group in a big tournament in time.
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