Amid the wreckage and debris of a World Cup qualifying campaign, George Burley and Scotland are somehow still alive. The absurdity of the past six days with Scotland — the fall-outs, the stupid comments, a hysterical press — had to be seen to be believed yet Burley and his players still have one last chance to redeem themselves in their often hapless group nine campaign.
Alas, that last chance comes against Holland at Hampden Park on Wednesday night. Burley’s boys must beat the Oranje in two days’ time to secure second spot in their group, but even then, depending on how the other eight groups unravel, it may not be enough to ensure a play-off place. “We have the belief, we have the commitment, and there will be 50,000 at Hampden on Wednesday night,” a defiant Burley said yesterday. “They don’t come any bigger than this one.”
Goals from Scott Brown and James McFadden did for FYR Macedonia in a stirring second half for Scotland on Saturday, but even that has not taken the debate away from Burley’s position as team manager. Some like him, some dislike him, and one or two have even been vindictive towards him as Scotland’s campaign has crashed around, revealing craft and calamity in equal measure. Last week Burley wasn’t helped by the gormless comments of George Peat, the SFA president, who had decided that two days before this Macedonia qualifier was an appropriate time to publicly lament Scotland’s plunge down the Fifa rankings under Burley. The newspapers had a field day with it.
Against this backdrop Saturday’s victory was sweet for Burley, who pranced around the Hampden track like an excited schoolboy when his team’s second goal was scored. But the Scotland manager still feels slighted, after 20 months in the job, by the fact that many choose to ignore what he has done in the game, including being voted manager of the year in England while at Ipswich Town.
“I’ve been a manager for a long time, and, while I’ll get criticism, I’ve got nothing to prove,” Burley said. “I’m in this job because I’ve done it, and some people don’t realise that. Some people don’t give me the respect that I deserve, but I can’t stop that. I just focus on the job. I wanted to take this job. There are certain things I can’t change, but for me it was an honour to get the Scotland job, and I am determined to do my best.
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“Our mindset now is to beat Holland. It will be 11 versus 11. Of course Holland have world-class players, we know that. But we will have the passion and the commitment to win the game. It can be done. We will not be going in there thinking we can’t beat them, because we can.”
Burley has one or two dilemmas to ponder over the next two days before what he admits will be the biggest game of his managerial career. Gary Caldwell, suspended for Saturday’s game, will be available again, while McFadden, inexplicably booked on Saturday by the German referee, Wolfgang Stark, will not be available as a consequence.
Decisions over both of these parts of the Scotland team will be vital to Burley’s chances. David Weir and Stephen McManus, whom some thought might collaborate in a creaking central rearguard, served Burley well on Saturday, while replacing McFadden, whose mazy run and goal was straight out of old-fashioned Scottish folklore, will be awkward. With his ordinary squad, Burley will need every ounce of ingenuity to get it right on Wednesday night.
Yet he got it right on Saturday — eventually — and Hampden made for quite a spectacle. In the relentless drizzle the game ripped from end to end as Goran Pandev and the Macedonians caused Scotland no end of anxiety before the Scots slowly but surely turned the match around. At times the crisp passing of Mirsad Jonuz’s team was bewildering for the Scots, who couldn’t get near the ball, but as the match wore on the famous phrase once used in Glasgow of a previous Yugoslavian coach, Ivica Osim, sprang to mind. Twenty years ago Osim jabbed a finger to his heart and said: “The difference between my players and the Scots is... the Scots have this.”
Having grafted their way into the match, Brown headed Scotland ahead after 55 minutes, flicking Steven Fletcher’s cross from ten yards past Jane Nikoloski and inside the goalkeeper’s right post. If Macedonia, having played so well, felt aggrieved, they were soon simpering and bickering among themselves when McFadden added a second for Scotland with a mercurial goal. Picking the ball up from well inside his own half, the Birmingham City striker dribbled past four opponents before arriving one-on-one with Nikoloski, around whom he also ambled before slotting the ball home.
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Like his wonder goal in Paris in September 2007, this was a moment that will be endlessly replayed, and with plenty of justification. McFadden remains an infuriating talent, with clear limitations to what he can do on the park, but such wonderful, virtuoso moments as these make him a Scotland player to be cherished.
Craig Gordon, whom Burley habitually likens to Superman, made a point-blank block from Pandev, which shaped the destiny of this match. Scotland’s second 45 minutes, however, was as good as any seen from the home side in recent years.
It all left Jonuz, the Macedonia coach, looking and sounding bitter, to the point where he voluntarily disparaged Scotland while looking ahead to their final game against Holland.
“They have no chance,” Jonuz said of Scotland. “It is hard to believe a team can get lucky twice. The guy who scored their second goal [McFadden] is the only player in this Scotland team who wouldn’t score a goal with his head.”
This was surly, churlish stuff from a beaten coach. Burley, however, is well used to such comments by now.
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Scotland (4-3-3): C Gordon 8 — A Hutton 8, D Weir 8, S McManus 7, C Davidson 3 (sub: S Whittaker, 13min 7) — S Brown 8 (sub: P Hartley, 72), G Alexander 7, D Fletcher 8 — S Fletcher 6 (sub: S Maloney, 66 5), K Miller 6, J McFadden 9. Substitutes not used: D Marshall, S Naismith, D Barr, G O’Connor.
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (4-3-3): J Nikolovski 5 — N Noveski 5, G Sedloski 6, I Mitreski 5, G Popov 5 — S Georgievski 5 (sub: V Grozdanoski, 79), V Shumolikoski 6, F Despotovski 5 — I Naumoski 5 (sub: D Tasevski, 64), G Pandev 6, A Stojkov 5 (sub: B Ibraimi, 79). Substitutes not used: T Pacovski, R Petrov, B Grncarov, A Vasoski.