Scotland’s last World Cup Finals game was 11 years ago this week. Going into the game against Morocco, we knew that a win coupled with a Brazil win over Norway would see us through to the next round. But the Norwegians beat Brazil and so fortunately we avoided another heartbreaking exit by simply getting gubbed by Morocco.
Admittedly a 3-0 defeat by Morocco is hardly a high point in Scottish sporting history, but the disappointment we felt after the poor performance of an aging Scottish team, would have been nothing compared to the devastation we would have experienced had we actually gone and beaten Morocco, only to hear that Norway had scored two late goals to beat the world champion Brazilians. Footage of both games below including a very dodgy 87th minute penalty for Norway.
ST. ETIENNE, France
First they were tears of joy, then they were tears of despair.
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The Moroccan team cried on the field on Tuesday after it beat Scotland 3-0, but the bigger tears came slightly thereafter when the team learned the win had not been enough to qualify it for the second round.
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Coach Henri Michel hugged each of his players as the news reached the Geoffrey Guichard Stadium that Norway had beaten defending champion Brazil to hold onto the second qualifying spot in Group A.
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At one stage, the Moroccans were heading for a comfortable victory and the Norwegians were losing in Marseille. But two late Norwegian goals made all Morocco’s gallant efforts heartbreakingly meaningless.
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.Scotland – Leighton (Aberdeen), McNamara, Boyd (both Celtic), Hendry (Blackburn Rovers) captain, Weir (Hearts), Burley (Celtic), Collins (Monaco), Lambert (Celtic), Dailly (Derby County), Gallacher (Blackburn Rovers), Durie (Rangers).
.Substitutes – Sullivan (Wimbledon), Gould (Celtic), Elliott (Leicester), McKinlay (Celtic), Whyte (Aberdeen), Gemmill (Nottingham Forest), Booth (Borussia Dortmund), Donnelly (Celtic).
Did we really fail to score against this goalie?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt-XQNTIsCU
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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS4sz6lRBhg&feature=related