Apologies for posting this in the main forum ...

Ryan Christie, Ryan Christie, Ryan Christie ... there we go, now its ICT related 😄

Do users want a separate sub forum for the World Cup (and by extension the Euros in a couple of years time hopefully) or should we simply stick with the "Other Football" category? A separate forum would allow us to keep it all in place and not get lost with other stuff, keeping it in the general football category could also be done if we just prefix every world cup thread with a tag of "world cup".

I am not bothered either way as neither is a huge task.

Can Scotland still win the World Cup in 2026? Asking for a friend!

Steve Clarke no longer the manager, just 3 weeks after signing a 4 year extension!

6 hours ago, Yngwie said:

Steve Clarke no longer the manager, just 3 weeks after signing a 4 year extension!

Such a shame and a sad ending for him after all he’s achieved climbing up the Nations League and getting us back to the World Cup and UEFAs. He did make us competitive again to a certain degree but after those displays I think he’s done the right and honourable thing by resigning.

So a new chapter awaits, Whoever takes over has plenty of time to work with his chosen squad before the next tournament and hopefully can build on the base Steve Clarke created and move us forward to the next level.

1 hour ago, CaleyCanary said:

Such a shame and a sad ending for him after all he’s achieved

I don’t want to criticise the individual as he was just the latest person to have to deal with a almost impossible task, which was to develop and progress a national team that could take the next step of qualifying to the knockout out stage of the Euro or WC tournaments.

I give credit to Clarke for having the common sense to know his time ‘had run’. It’s a statement (to anyone listening IMO) we neither have the organisational structure, people running the ‘show’ or players with the requisite ability or skills to take us to that level.

When to take in the populations of the major (successful) footballing nations then it’s clear numbers (players -competition-standards) count. eg

GRM - 85; FR - 70; ENG - 60; SPN - 48 Million.

Of our WC group, BRL-214, Morocco-39, HTI -12 M.

Equivalent Euro countries with Scotland 6 million, DMK -6, SWD -11, NWY-6, BLM-12, IRL - 6, PGL - 11.

Belgium and Portugal has proved that with the right vision, structure and people (weather may also be an important factor here), it is possible to compete against the ‘big’ countries.

The WC has proved that ‘small’ nations can however can provide exciting football, Curacao the prime example with there flair and quick moving football. They came unstuck of course points wise (2), however was an example (to me) that an adventurous approach is more appreciated than a Don’t - Loose one.

I think ‘adventure’ wasn’t in the Stevie Clarke training manual. It only happened by luck.

So to close, good luck to Mr Clarke if he wishes to continue in football management. There will be clubs willing to use his talents and experience.

For Scotland (and more importantly its fans). the challenge and expectations need to be kept in check. Ie what is realistically possible. Thats not to say don’t stop the tartan army having a great time at tournaments when we quality, quite the reverse, their brilliant ambassadors.

The only thing I would do is change the model (and leaders) at the SFA has for the development of our young players. The current one (employed for decades) has not worked or progressed your players skill set IMO.

I don’t wait in great expectation!

Thats it off my chest!!

bc

Edited yesterday at 11:45 AM1 day by big cherly

We now know that the size of our defeat to Brazil actually made no difference, we weren’t even close and would’ve needed a 5 or 6 goal GD improvement to qualify. Realistically we needed to snatch a draw against Morocco.

Is the reason Clarke plays cautiously because he knows/believes that central defence is the weakest link? Hanley/Hendry/McKenna are obviously good defenders to a certain level but play for Hibs, Al Ettifaq and Dinamo Zagreb, and are past their best. Been a long time since there was a pairing you could really trust.

So who next for manager? Derek McInnes would’ve been the obvious choice until he got the Rangers job.

I know a lot of people will insist that we need a Scottish manager, but I’d be happy with Ange Postecoglu if he wanted it and was affordable.

Some possibilities - including Ange - discussed here - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/28/scotland-search-new-coach-replace-steve-clarke

Get Ange in 👍

Haven’t even seen the Brazil game although I’ve recorded it. We booked a cruise leaving from Helsinki a year ago. So left Helsinki on the Wednesday night for Tallin, and being 2 hours ahead, it kicked off at 1am. TV was dodgy at sea by satellite and saw a few minutes before it froze (a bit like Scott McKenna maybe). Saw two more snatches, each time realising we had lost another goal, then another bit in the second period when we seemed to be on top, before I gave up.

I feel sorry for Steve Clarke.

He seems a decent guy who was doing the best he could with the hand he was dealt, and I’m not sure that we can come up with a replacement who will be able to achieve more.

His task was to get us to major tournaments, and he did that. Sadly, we failed at them, in part due to being too cautious and in part because in some positions we are just not good enough.

I believe he has handled himself with dignity, including in his decision to step down, which I think is the right decision for him given the last few weeks.

As others have said, our structure doesn’t seem to help the national team and young talent is stifled as a result.

An example is Finlay Curtis, who is seen by many as integral to our national team’s future, but he’d to go out on loan from a poor Rangers team to get regular action.

How many of our squad of 26 were first pick starters at their club sides? Not as many as we needed, and it showed.

A disappointing campaign, but our fans were magnificent.

12 hours ago, Robert said:

How many of our squad of 26 were first pick starters at their club sides? Not as many as we needed, and it showed.

This is a very salient point. It also applies to England to a degree.

With the Auld Firm's dominance of the league they are always trying to get above the other. To this end they recruit overseas players. The Scottish players then are spread amongst the Auld Firm benches or other teams, but crucially get little European experience. Top Scottish players of the past would often have moved to England (Dalglish, Souness, Hansen, Jordan, McQueen, etc.), but with the money available to English clubs now, they too are looking for a higher quality player abroad, leaving fewer options for Scots (and Irish, Welsh and English) in England.

With this as the backdrop it'll be hard to buck the trend as what the best players are lacking is experience against high quality opposition. As I said at the start the same actually applies to English players, the depth of top quality players is not great. Even if you have, say, four top quality players - if they aren't testing themselves against better players regularly they won't improve anywhere near as quickly as they could. Whilst Norway may be doing OK now, how long will it last when Haarland retires (or goes off the boil) - their second string got thumped by France. Denmark were in the same qualifying group as Scotland but weren't good enough to win it. Ireland didn't qualify either.

I don't know the answer, but I do know that it won't be easy to come by. Perhaps a domestic quota on overseas players is what is needed (for all national teams), but I don't see that happening any time soon.

Duncan Ferguson open to Scotland Manager talks.....reminds me of Rafeal Shyte at Celtic....

Struggled through the SA - CAN match last night. Dreadful spectacle but pleased Canada won. South Africa’s tactics appeared to be kill the game (for most of the second half with umpteen pass back to their goalie) and draw CAN towards them, then when the opportunity presented itself attack with speed.

The thing for me was SA appeared to be the more skilful and quicker team. If they had simply attacked CDN more then I believe SA would have got through. Glad they didn’t seeing the antics they displayed. No wonder a great number of fans were booing SA!

Canada were no great shakes however (reminded me of most Morton teams) and they’ll have to improve if they wish to stay in the tournament.

I’m not sure if Oluwaseyi was the Canadian centre forward last night. He had the mobility of a broken washing machine IMO and made Chanka Zimba almost gazelle like.

Looking forward to the JPN - BRL being a much needed injection of attacking football.

bc

42 minutes ago, big cherly said:

Struggled through the SA - CAN match last night. Dreadful spectacle but pleased Canada won. South Africa’s tactics appeared to be kill the game (for most of the second half with umpteen pass back to their goalie) and draw CAN towards them, then when the opportunity presented itself attack with speed.

The thing for me was SA appeared to be the more skilful and quicker team. If they had simply attacked CDN more then I believe SA would have got through. Glad they didn’t seeing the antics they displayed. No wonder a great number of fans were booing SA!

Canada were no great shakes however (reminded me of most Morton teams) and they’ll have to improve if they wish to stay in the tournament.

I’m not sure if Oluwaseyi was the Canadian centre forward last night. He had the mobility of a broken washing machine IMO and made Chanka Zimba almost gazelle like.

Looking forward to the JPN - BRL being a much needed injection of attacking football.

bc

There were moments for Canada, but your assessment is pretty accurate. Oluwaseyi is not first choice striker. It should be Jonathan David and/or Cyle Larin. JD and CL have 74 goals between them in 174 combined appearances. Much like Scotland however, the striker depth chart is pretty weak ... recent call-ups included former ICT player Aribim Pepple.

What Canada had that Scotland didn't (other than an easier group) however was team spirit and effort. Perhaps I am being a little disingenuous, but too many Scotland players seemed less than interested, jaded after a long season, or simply didn't perform. For Canada, they may not have the skill of the bigger nations, and for sure I think Netherlands or Morocco may put an end to their journey, but in most of their games they battled for every ball.

Manager Jesse Marsch got a lot of criticism south of the border for encouraging his guys to keep going when they were playing Qatar and it was 5-0, then 6-0. He wanted them to compete to the very end and score 7, 8, or 9 if they could. These players would crawl over broken glass to play for him and for their country and that's how we used to be. Heck, look at all the others who overtook us in the hunt for a last 32 slot and almost every one of them took their last game by the scruff of the neck and left nothing out there on the pitch at the end of their respective games. We did not.

Going back to the Canada game, one thing I did notice was that as soon as Alphonso Davies came on in the 75th minute, that lifted Canada immensely and the remaining 15 minutes were spent pretty much camped out in the South African half. He had some nice touches and his presence, even not fully fit gave a lift and some extra energy to all around the team. I think they also knew he only had 20 minutes in him at this stage of his recovery so needed to get it done before it went to extra-time!

Not sure if this was broadcast outside Canada, but at the end, the media here of course stayed with the players and coach as they huddled on the pitch, and he gave them a team-talk. He was calling them "Canadian Heroes" which is true as they have gone further than Canada ever has before, and noting that kids will start playing, or become re-invigorated by the game because of how far they have got so far and the feelgood factor around the team. It was a very inspirational talk and very emotional for many of the players (and the manager). If somehow, they can make it past their next opponents, then that would be amazing, but they would need to lift their game, and Davies would also need to be available for longer than 15 minutes. The manager himself described it as a "free hit" and has come in for some flak for saying that, but I think what he meant in the heat of the moment is that qualifying for the last 32 was the (realistic) goal, and getting to the last 16 or any further is totally and utterly a bonus and most Canadian fans will agree with that realistic assessment - even if hoping for a bit of luck and far more :)

20 hours ago, Robert said:

How many of our squad of 26 were first pick starters at their club sides? Not as many as we needed, and it showed.

Maybe we should follow the Morocco “ WAY” to build a squad.

Googled it…………...

The birth-country breakdown of Morocco 26-man World Cup squad includes:

• Morocco: 7 players

• Spain: 6 players (e.g., Achraf Hakimi and Brahim Díaz)

• France: 6 players (e.g., Issa Diop and Ayyoub Bouaddi)

• Netherlands: 3 players

• Belgium: 3 players

• Canada: 1 player

  Think I heard that Bouaddi was playing for France U 21 prior to World Cup and changed to Morocco a few weeks before the start of the tournament.

cant find the article but think the reverse happened to us recently with a couple of youth players .. they switched allegiance away from Scotland after scoring bucketloads of goals in the youth setup. Unfortunately, a more likely situation given our current (and historical) malaise.

Nevertheless: Always hopeful, Always disappointed, but Always Scotland.