Thursday, September 11, 2008

Not Ice cool, but Broad-ly speaking, it'll do

Thank the lord almighty for Kirk Broadfoot.

I have to admit, I didn't expect to write the above sentence anytime soon. But a typical performance from the Hun right back, all energy and enthusiasm, was exactly what that Scotland side needed. I have a suspicion that the goal went in off his nose, but big deal. Burley was right - he does have "limited ability" but as Broadfoot constantly shows, physique and fitness can make up a lot for that in the 21st century. Good man.

Certainly a lot of positives can be taken from Reykjavik. If Skopje on Saturday left us with a nausea and horror akin to walking in on your parents making out (I'm not talking from experience, honest), then last night's win led to a nice warm glow such as that produced by eating a piece of caramel shortbread. Of course, we had to make it hard for ourselves, thanks to Stephen McManus' impression of a basketball player. But the attitude was good, we kept the ball well, and looked dangerous up front. It's also the best I've seen Scott Brown play in ages. Mind you, Kris Commons looks like he could become the next Paul Devlin (can you believe that Vogts gave him 10 caps?!).

Come to think of it, if we had picked up 2 draws, there would be a feeling of satisfaction about our start; in fact we have 3 pts instead of 2, and Norway's failure to beat Iceland at home means that I reckon 10 more points would do us for second. Of course, with the daft playoff rules, the more the better.

I can't let this blog post go by without mentioning the England game. It's not fair - not only were England scintillating to watch and good value for the result (A Walcott hat trick? Are you having a laugh) but Croatia were awful and descended into thuggery in the second half. After Robert Kovac decided to try to decapitate Joe Cole with his forearm, England even got the moral high ground as well. Just as well Scotland won, since an England win that we can't find a legitimate reason to slag off would be a bit depressing.

Oh, and by the way, spare a thought for Switzerland, who lost at home to Luxembourg. I can't help feeling that this is the equivalent of Goliath losing to David after David's eyes had been gouged out and his throwing arm cut off, while Goliath was armed with an AK47.

Back to SPL duty on Saturday. Caley v St. Mirren. I love the big occasions.

L.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

To be honest, before this game I was a bit ashamed to be a Scotland fan. Not just because of the performance in Macedonia, but mainly because of the reaction and the grief that Burley got. I was exactly the kind of reaction that we always criticise England fans for. it was his first competitive game, in 100 degree heat against tricky opponents who ran Holland close a few days later with two big decisions going against us (although we were crap).

All credit to Burley for his brave selection against Iceland and going for the win we really needed and also to the players for a massive improvement in attitude. Special mentions for Gary Caldwell (the only guy who played well in both games and looked more of a captain than McM***s), Scott Brown (with his first good performance since he played for Hibs), and Kirk Broadfoot (loved by Rangers fans for the same reason Caley fans love(d) Tokley - plays so much better than he has any right to through sheer hard work).

I'm a bit more proud of my country than I was a few days ago.

Credit to England though. 4-1 in Croatia is a great result however badly the home side played.