HERE we go again.
Scotland will take centre stage at Hampden on Tuesday night with a place in the World Cup finals on the line.
It’s fair to say we have a love/hate relationship as far as the biggest competition in football goes.
Although, given the fact we haven’t made it to the promised land since 1998, it’s one that has certainly become a lot more hate than love.
That could all change this week, however, when Denmark come calling.
Perhaps – for once – lady luck is actually on our side.
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Saturday’s 3-2 defeat in Greece should have been a crushing and fatal blow to our automatic World Cup qualification hopes.
That was certainly the expectation.
Yet somehow here we are having lost to Greece and STILL having our World Cup destiny in our own hands this week.
Dismal Denmark were held to a shock 2-2 draw by Belarus, who hadn’t taken a point from any of their previous games during the current qualification process.
And that surprising result effectively saw Scotland bailed out and has set all eyes upon Hampden.
Win and we’re in. It’s that simple.
We’ve been there before, however.
Sometimes it’s gone to plan but more often than not, it hasn’t.
Ahead of what we hope will be a historic night to remember, SunSport takes a look at five roaring Scotland qualification successes and five occasions we’d rather forget altogether.
It’s time to put those demons to rest.
ONES TO REMEMBER
1998 – the last time it happened!
27 years ago isn’t exactly recent but it’s the most recent story we’ve got of the Scotland men‘s team making it to a World Cup.
Craig Brown’s men would enjoy a successful qualification campaign for France 98, winning seven of their 10 games and losing just once.
With Hampden undergoing extensive renovation, games were held all around the country.
Celtic Park, Ibrox, Pittodrie and Rugby Park all hosted qualification matches.
It all came down to the final game against Latvia at Celtic Park in October 1997 where an expectant crowd knew a win would seal our spot at the World Cup.
Kevin Gallacher and Gordon Durie both scored as the Scots secured second spot in the group and advanced as the top ranked second place team in the European qualifying process.
1990 – Overcoming star-studded France
Scotland were drawn in a tricky qualifying group for Italia 90 that also included star-studded France, Yugoslavia and Norway.
A brilliant double from Mo Johnston at Hampden in March 1989 had us well on course to secure a spot at the finals.
In fact, that result would prove an absolutely crucial one.
Scotland would win just one of their last four qualifying matches and ended up pipping France to second spot in the group by just one point.
Both Scotland and Yugoslavia, who won the group, made it to the finals with France missing out altogether.
1986 – Heading Down Under
There are plenty of daunting trips to be found during the European qualifying process.
Arduous journeys to far away lands such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are unlikely to feature high on anyone connected to Scotland’s wishlist.
So spare a thought for the team who reached the finals in Mexico in 1986 who had to travel to AUSTRALIA just to qualify.
Scotland had secured a play-off spot thanks to a 1-1 draw in Wales on 10 September, 1985.
That night, of course, was when tragedy struck in Cardiff when Scotland manager Jock Stein passed away after collapsing on the sideline in the closing stages of the game.
Stein’s assistant, Alex Ferguson, would take over as manager following those tragic events.
He would lead Scotland into an intercontinental play-off that pitted us against Australia.
A 2-0 win at Hampden was a welcome result before making the long, long trip Down Under to Melbourne.
Scotland would draw 0-0 in the second leg in Australia and seal a spot at the World Cup.
1978 – The Hand of Jord
If Diego Maradona‘s Hand of God is any Scotland fan’s favourite handball, then Joe Jordan‘s won’t be far behind.
The Scots would face Wales in Liverpool in October 1977 knowing a win would secure their place at the following year’s World Cup finals.
With the score goalless and the final 10 minutes of the game approaching, Scotland were awarded a penalty.
The referee believed a Welsh player had handled the ball and pointed to the spot.
However, it was actually Jordan who had punched the ball and it certainly should NEVER have been a penalty.
Of course, there was no VAR 48 years ago and the decision stood.
Don Masson scored from the kick to give Scotland the lead before Kenny Dalglish struck five minutes from time to make it 2-0.
Scotland would advance to the World Cup.
1974 – Czech mate!
The third team involved in that 1978 qualifying group was Czechoslovakia.
Four years before, they were once again one of our opponents in another three-team group.
Scotland began the Group 8 campaign by beating Denmark in Copenhagen and at Hampden.
The Czechs were held by the Danes in their first game – held six months after Scotland’s first two games against Denmark – before thumping them 6-0 in the return fixture in Prague.
The Czechs’ failure to win in Denmark would prove costly and when Scotland welcomed them to Hampden in September 1973, they knew a win would mean a spot at the 1974 World Cup.
Revenge was high on the agenda too given the fact Czechoslovakia had denied Scotland a spot at the 1962 finals.
It looked like they were in the mood to do so again when Zdenek Nehoda silenced the near 96,000 crowd at Hampden.
However, goals from Jim Holton and – that man again – Joe Jordan sealed a superb turnaround as Scotland won 2-1 on the night and sealed a World Cup berth.
ONES TO FORGET
2022 – So close but so, so far
Let’s start this section with the most recent one then – a campaign that once again involved Denmark.
Scotland’s Group F campaign got off to a rather poor start.
We needed a late John McGinn effort to nick a point in a 2-2 draw against Austria in the opener before being held 1-1 by Israel in Tel Aviv a few days later.
A 4-0 win over the Faroe Islands brought the first win of the group before a 2-0 defeat to Denmark meant we’d taken just three points from a possible 12 to kick things off.
However, Steve Clarke‘s men would then go on a remarkable run that saw them win all six of their subsequent qualifiers.
These included dramatic late wins over Israel and the Faroes thanks to Scott McTominay and Lyndon Dykes respectively.
The campaign was rounded-off with a 2-0 win over the Danes in front of a raucous Hampden, a victory that secured Scotland a home play-off semi-final clash.
Expectations were high when Ukraine headed to Hampden but it proved a night of massive disappointment.
Ukraine quickly took control and emerged 3-1 victors on the night, bringing hopes of a World Cup return to a sudden and shuddering end.
2018 – For Gord’s sake
Four years previously, it was another campaign that was brutally ended at the final hurdle.
Scotland headed for Ljubljana knowing a win over Slovenia would’ve meant a play-off place.
A Leigh Griffiths strike gave Gordon Strachan‘s men a half time lead at the Stozice Stadium.
Things started to go wrong in the second half, however.
Roman Bezjak stunned the Scots with a double and a late leveller from Robert Snodgrass to make it 2-2 on the night was too little, too late.
A haul of 18 points saw Scotland finish level on points with Slovakia but their superior goal difference saw them finish second.
This was also the campaign that included THAT game against England at Hampden, that also finished in a 2-2 draw.
Gordon Strachan would quit as boss just days later.
2010 – One El of a night
Scotland missing out on a play-off chance seems to be a rather familiar tale.
That was the case once again as George Burley looked to lead the nation to South Africa 2010.
This campaign will forever be best remembered for Chris Iwelumo’s inexplicable horror miss in a 0-0 draw with Norway at Hampden.
Still, Scotland still had qualification hope heading into the final group game against the Netherlands with a play-off place still to play for.
The Dutch had been a force to be reckoned with during the process and had already booked their World Cup berth after seven wins from seven games.
An agonising night at Hampden saw both Kenny Miller and Steven Naismith hit the woodwork.
There would be one goal here but unfortunately it was a Dutch one.
Eljero Elia fired a cracker home nine minutes from time to bring a crushing end to another Scotland campaign.
2006 – Alarm Bels are ringing
Walter Smith revived Scotland’s fortunes after replacing Berti Vogts as manager in 2004.
But before the huge highs that came during the Euro 2008 qualifying process was a devastating low in the 2006 World Cup tilt.
After failing to win any of the opening four qualifiers, Scotland turned things around to give themselves hope.
Only a late equaliser denied the Scots a famous win over Italy at Hampden, a game followed up by an impressive 2-1 win over Norway in Oslo.
That meant it was all to play for in the final two qualifiers against Belarus and Slovenia.
In the end, it never even got to that final game.
That’s after the Scots suffered a horror 1-0 defeat at home against Belarus that brought an embarrassing and early end to any hopes of making it to the showpiece in Germany.
Belarus – who did us that huge favour against Denmark – certainly didn’t favour us on this occasion.
Norway’s win over Moldova later that night sealed our fate.
2002 – End of the road
The road to Japan and South Korea, the first ever World Cup in Asia, was one that concluded in heartbreak.
Craig Brown’s Scotland went toe-to-toe with Croatia and Belgium in a tantalising three-way tussle for the top two spots.
The group winner would advance directly to the World Cup while the team finishing second would bag a play-off spot.
Scotland had been denied a home win over Belgium by a 90th minute Daniel van Buyten header at Hampden in March 2001, and we headed for Brussels six months later looking for revenge.
In the end, a 2-0 defeat left us needing far too much to do.
That result didn’t completely kill-off our chances of making it to the World Cup.
What it did mean was that we were relying on the Belgians to beat Croatia in their final game as we couldn’t overtake Belgium on points.
We also needed to hammer Latvia ourselves to make up some goal difference.
In the end, none of those things happened.
Scotland did defeat Latvia 2-1 at Hampden but Croatia’s win over Belgium completely sealed our fate.
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Croatia would win the group on 18 points with Belgium a point back.
Scotland would finish just three behind Croatia but cruelly missed out on advancing altogether.
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