Sorry, chaps, but I'd like to inject the entire country with a stat dose of a drug that nobody wants to think or talk about at the moment - realism. (how many of you thought I was going to say marijuana?)
Tomorrow we are playing the World Champions. We have to beat them to qualify. A draw, while a pretty darn decent result, is almost certainly going to lead to our absence from another major tournament. And yet the press and punters seem to think that it is somehow our destiny.
The reasons? Our phenomenal record at home in these qualifiers seems to be the main one. Granted, we have won 5 out of 5, but those included a pub team from the Faroe Islands (it can't have been the same side that gave us a tricky game in June), wins over Georgia and Lithuania which required late goals to get us out of jail, a win over the French which, glorious as it was, is one of the most unfair results in history, and one rather good performance against Ukraine. In a parallel universe, a Scotland side ended up with 2 wins, 2 draws and a defeat instead, and are playing a dead rubber against a side who have already qualified.
Besides, are we not asking a bit much of these guys? The achievement of getting so close to qualifying in this group is more than enough. We will now, at least, be in the second seeding pot for the World Cup qualifiers - note that if we win and England lose to Croatia we might even be seeded above them. That's how far we've come. So if (or when) Saturday comes and goes as a big anticlimax, I at least am going to look back and think of how much excitement and fun I;ve had during these qualifiers as a Scotland fan, and try not to malign the fact that another example of "glorious failure" seems upon us.
Besides, can you imagine a major finals without Italy? I'm not 100% certain I want to, either.
L.
sssh, we're going to win
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