PlugAfter twenty-three years of absence, Scotland returns to the final phase of a major tournament. For her third participation in the Euro, she will notably face her English neighbor in Group D.
Tartan Army. The team owes its nickname to its supporters, who love to wear the famous Scottish fabric and are among the most enthusiastic and demonstrative in the world.
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The calendar (French time)
June 14: Scotland v Czech Republic, 3 p.m., in Glasgow
June 18: England v Scotland, 9 p.m., in London
June 22: Scotland v Croatia, 9 p.m. in Glasgow
The first two of each group as well as the four best thirds qualify.
The team that should play
David Marshall – Kieran Tierney, Grant Hanley, Declan Gallagher – Andrew Robertson, Callum McGregor, Scott McTominay, Stephen O’Donnell – John McGinn, Ryan Christie – Lyndon Dykes.
In two participations, four years apart, in 1992 and 1996, the Scots have never crossed the first round. In 1996, placed in the same group as the host country, the English rival, they lost 2-0, crucified, in particular, by a masterpiece by Paul Gascoigne. This year, for the Petit Poucet of group D, everything will depend on the presence or absence of their fervent supporters, since two group matches are scheduled at Hampden Park in Glasgow.
The manager: Stephen Clarke
The former Chelsea defender – more than three hundred games between 1987 and 1998 – was appointed manager in May 2019. Before dealing with Scottish club Kilmarnock (3e of the championship in 2019), he had been for many years the assistant of prestigious coaches, such as the Portuguese José Mourinho or the Spaniard Rafael Benítez.
Clarke managed to break the Scottish curse with a second chance: while not qualifying through the playoffs, Scotland won the right to participate in their first major competition, since the 1998 World Cup. , thanks to the League of Nations (new competition created in 2018). To do this, the Scots eliminated, last November, Serbia on penalties (1-1, 5 shots on goal to 4).
A player: David Marshall
In the pictures, he looks astonished. However, on November 12, 2020, by deflecting, thanks to a magnificent dive to the ground, the shot of Serbian Aleksandar Mitrovic, David Marshall qualified his country for the Euro. After more than twenty years of famine, Scotland can celebrate its hero. Trained at Celtic Glasgow, the goalkeeper of the national team crossed in 2007 to the other side of Hadrian’s wall, where he played in several clubs. At 36, David Marshall is currently playing in the English second division, at Derby County. International since 2004, he was absent from the national team for three years, before being recalled by the new coach in 2019.
VSit happened at the Euro
Scotland and England had the privilege of playing the first international match in football history. In 1872, the neighbors then separated in a draw, 0-0. It will then be necessary to wait more than a century to attend the first confrontation of these two selections in the final phase of a great competition. It was in 1996, at Wembley. The English were without pity for their valiant rivals, Paul Gascoigne and Alan Shearer inflicting on Scotland its only defeat … since it still finished 3e of his group, behind England and the Netherlands. See you at the same place this year for the revenge and one of the “sentimental” posters of this Euro.
After centuries of rivalry, war and mistrust, the English and Scottish kingdoms signed the Acts of Union in 1706, creating, in effect, the Kingdom of Great Britain. Since then, the independence of Scotland has not ceased to invite itself at more or less regular intervals in the debates. In 2014, the population said “no” for the first time. But with Brexit, the movement for the organization of a new referendum is all the more important as the Scots are much more Europhile than the English. “Scotland is determined to follow a legal path to become an independent state”, reaffirmed in January the Prime Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
Despite a campaign by the Scottish National Party, the country’s main independence party, Scotland has never had the right to run in its own name at Eurovision. It is therefore under the banner of the United Kingdom that several Scottish artists have pushed the song during the famous competition. Like Scott Fitzgerald, in 1988, who finished in the 2e place behind Celine Dion. We let you savor his song Go.
How to miss the famous haggis, the Scottish national dish? This stuffed sheep’s stomach recipe is always a hit with foreign visitors. For delicate gourmets, we can offer a Scottish shortbread or a bannock, a kind of traditional bread. All washed down – with the greatest moderation – with an inevitable scotch.
