Ebbe Sand's goal put the Danes in control

Scotland suffer an early setback when Denmark's Ebbe Sand heads the visitors ahead on eight minutes

Kyle and his team-mates struggle to get back on level terms

Vogts and Burns watching Scotland's defeat by Denmark.

A streaker invades the pitch

Lambert challenges Sand.

It was Denmark who were celebrating

Danes ease past Scotland

SCOTLAND supporters searching Hampden Park last night for signs of a brighter future would be left to seek refuge in the maxim that the darkest hour is just before dawn. Things do not get much blacker than being embarrassingly outplayed at home in a match which brought up a fifth successive defeat for the first time in the country’s history.

Even against opponents as highly ranked as Denmark, it was impossible to make too many allowances for a performance from Berti Vogts’ latest selection that was bereft of promise. Ebbe Sand’s early goal simply made the scoreline more flattering than one of Don Juan’s seduction lines.

Vogts is undoubtedly dedicated to his objective of refilling his players’ depleted reserves of aggression and commitment, but no amount of passion, energy or application can compensate for a genuine lack of pace. This does not simply mean the ability to cover ground in a shorter time than the opposition, but to think at speed, to see play develop early enough to move into space and to have the technique to transfer the ball quickly and accurately to a team-mate, creating the illusion of being generally faster.

It is an art the Scots seem to have lost for at least a decade, a failing that was, once again, the most telling difference between them and their visitors. This discrepancy was graphically illustrated by the work which brought the Danes their early lead and in the subsequent overrunning of the Scotland midfield and defence which should have allowed them to add to it soon after.

When Niclas Jensen’s attempted centre from the left was headed back out to him, he immediately improved on his delivery, sending the ball into the heart of the home defence. Gary Naysmith managed merely a touch with the top of his head, the ball skimming towards Dennis Rommedahl on the right. Without so much as a subliminal hesitation, the PSV winger killed the ball and placed his cross on the forehead of Sand, who required only a twitch of the neck muscles to send it over the line from six yards’ range.

The home side, having mildly upset the Danish defence after literally ten seconds, when David Weir’s long pass out to the left edge of the penalty area created a short-lived confusion, imparted the impression for most of the time of primary school pupils who had strayed into the big boys’ playground.

To a large extent this was true. With novices such as Robbie Stockdale, Kevin McNaughton, Maurice Ross, Kevin Kyle and Steven Thompson woven through the team, there was always the probability that their rawness would be exposed.

But, with the more experienced Barry Ferguson and Paul Lambert unable to impose themselves anywhere near forward areas from midfield - they were pre-occupied for most of the time much closer to their own goal - they were fortunate not to trail by a demoralising margin by half-time.

Jensen’s terrific pass down the left allowed Peter Lovenkrands simply to pull clear of Stockdale and produce a cross so suddenly that it was guaranteed to wrong-foot the blue shirts scrambling to form even a semblance of a line of defence.

Had Sand, bolting forward from a deep position, arrived half a stride sooner, the ball would have landed in the net, rather than miss the striker’s right toe by millimetres and run away.

The sigh of relief over that dangerous incident had not been exhaled before Stockdale had to clear a drive from Christian Poulsen from his goal line.

Morten Olsen, the Denmark coach, may have appeared to have been overcome by a sense of mercy when he removed the tormentor, Rommedahl, at the start of the second half and brought on Jesper Gronkjaer, the Chelsea winger.

This transpired, however, to be nothing less than a declaration of the Danes’ haughtiness, as Gronkjaer was deployed at right-back, with another substitute, Jan Michaelsen, filling the forward slot vacated by Rommedahl.

Vogts countered by replacing the midfielder, McNaughton, with Stephen Crainey, the latter going to left-back as the coach switched from a 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2 formation. The resultant threat to Thomas Sorensen’s goal - within three minutes, in fact - had less to do with the tactical change than with a terrific piece of play from Kyle.

The big striker took possession in midfield and quickly played an impeccably-weighted precise pass into the path of the galloping Thompson, who pulled away from Rene Henriksen, only to have his close-range finish blocked by Sorensen. It was the first hint that the Scots were even capable of the kind of sudden thrust that throws defences into disarray.

It proved also to be an isolated example, as the Danes reverted to the authoritative passing and running game which had the Scots, by and large, scrambling to compete. They were helpless in that regard when Lovenkrands accelerated past two defenders on the left side of the home penalty area, but his drive was blocked by the alert Robert Douglas at the near post.

The Celtic goalkeeper was again in the right position to hold a half-hit shot from Poulsen, after a corner kick from the right had been headed on to the Danish midfielder at the far post, and should have been tested soon after when Sand, unchallenged, scooped his shot over the bar from just inside the 18-yard line.

Without these unexpected aberrations, the Scots would have been humiliated.

Scotland: Douglas, Ross, Weir (Severin 78), Dailly, Stockdale (Alexander 72), Ferguson, Lambert (McInnes 81), McNaughton (Crainey 46), Naysmith (Johnston 72), Kyle, Thompson (Dobie 56). Subs not used: Sullivan, Wilkie, Williams, Gallacher.

Denmark: Sorensen, Bogelund (Gronkjaer 46), Laursen (Wieghorst 68), Niclas Jensen, Henriksen (Lustu 84), Poulsen, Gravesen (Claus Jensen 47), Sand, Tomasson, Rommedahl (Michaelsen 46), Lovenkrands (Silberbauer 72). Sub not used: Skov-Jensen.

Referee: L Irvine (Ireland).
 

Scotland laid bare by scant resources

A WEEK in politics may be long enough for governments to topple, but it is unquestionably an insufficient period in which to transform a grossly substandard national football team into the kind that has supporters composing love songs.

The claim by Berti Vogts that the seven days he will have with his Scotland players prior to next month’s Euro 04 qualifier against the Faroes will allow him to effect unrecognisable improvement has about it the disturbing sound of whistling in the dark. To borrow a caustic observation from Kenny Dalglish, perhaps the week in question should be spent in Lourdes.

It is entirely appropriate that Dalglish should be the author of the wicked, but succinctly telling, barb he first directed at the then Scotland manager, Andy Roxburgh, when the latter, during a session of keepy-uppy with Dalglish and Pat Nevin, pleaded that he would need a few days’ practice to recover his former skills. Dalglish was, after all, the last truly great player to be exported from Scotland; that, chillingly, was 25 years ago.

In the two-and-a-half decades since the incomparable midfielder/striker left Celtic for Liverpool, few have offered so much as a hint that they could come anywhere near to his level of performance. Charlie Nicholas appeared to be a contender in 1983, but, in preferring Arsenal to Manchester United or Liverpool, he seemed to choose the club that, at the time, was least suited to his gifts.

The Ally McCoist-Maurice Johnston striking partnership which helped the Scots to reach Italia 90 at the expense of group rivals France held promise that proved to be as short-lived as a soap bubble. Within three years, the Scots had been humbled by a 5-0 defeat from Portugal on the night when, as Roxburgh famously remarked, "a team died".

Qualification for Euro 96 and France 98 were welcome achievements under Craig Brown, but it has to be recognised that it was secured from groups which were comparatively weak and that it was as runner-up on both occasions. The Scots’ limitations, typically, were exposed during the finals of both championships, the expedition to France culminating in the embarrassing humiliation by Morocco in St Etienne.

Even so, when set beside the trials and tribulations of the past four years, these flirtations with the great jamborees seem like a golden age. On the evidence of the five full internationals played since Vogts succeeded Brown last March - with the emphasis on the depressing lack of potential encountered at Hampden Park the other night - the deterioration since represents not so much a tarnish as encrustment in a thick patina of mediocrity.

How Vogts is to cut through it and apply some polish in the 15 days between now and the start of the European qualifying series is not obvious. It is not as if he has assembled a squad of players with impressive pedigrees whose impoverished performance against the Danes could be attributed to a temporary loss of form.

The majority called to the colours by Vogts operate at lower-echelon clubs, with a number of them not even regular first choices. Kevin Kyle, for example, is a 21-year-old striker who has never started a match for Sunderland and who has never scored a goal for them.

As qualifications for international recognition, these credentials are about as solid as forged certificates of excellence. This should not be construed as a personal attack on Kyle, but simply to use him as a typical example of the status of the players summoned by Vogts.

If Scotland were to renew the old fixture against England, it would be impossible to imagine Sven Goran Eriksson’s representatives from Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal looking at the Scottish squad list before the match and shivering with apprehension at meeting opponents from West Bromich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Aberdeen, Hearts and Dundee United.

And, whatever organisation, motivation and dedication Vogts may bring to a daunting job, it is already clear that the little German is no genius. As the depressingly pedestrian Scots were turned over by Denmark, the manager appeared to become confused in his tactical deployment.

Having started with an orthodox 3-5-2, a number of other formations - some of them indecipherable - appeared to be used in the course of the 90 minutes, the most alarming of which featured 33-year-old Paul Lambert wide on the left facing up to one of the fastest men in Europe, Dennis Rommedahl and, ultimately, the reputedly creative midfielder, Barry Ferguson, anchored in central defence.

Vogts had no lucid explanation for these curious re-shuffles when probed after the match, rather lamely insisting that things would be better for having more preparation before the Faroes match and pointing out the obvious, that the forthcoming opponents would not be as formidable as Denmark.

Vogts has clearly been disappointed - indeed, shocked - at the poor standard of player he has worked with as the Scotland manager and by the neglect of the various under-age teams under the SFA umbrella. He has indicated a willingness even to risk conflict with the clubs by demanding regular get-togethers and practice matches among the younger players. But it is on the deeds of the senior side that he will be judged.

While it is never advisable to bring in the verdict before the trial, the preliminary hearings - defeats from France, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea and Denmark make it five straight defeats for the first time in Scotland’s long history - suggest that Vogts faces an enormously difficult task in securing a favourable result.