| Scotland 1, Netherlands 0 McFadden (22) 15 November 2003 Hampden Att: 50,670  Gallus McFadden lights a flame of hope
For all of his idiosyncracies, often indistinguishable from blatant incompetence, Berti Vogts has finally bound the best resources available to him into a focused and organised unit capable of restoring pride and credibility in the Scottish colours. Not since Austria were beaten 2-0 at Parkhead in April 1997, en route to qualification for the World Cup Finals in France, has a Scotland team performed with such conviction in front of their own supporters. Faced with opponents of unarguably greater individual pedigree on Saturday, Scotland more than compensated for any technical disadvantages with a work-rate and attitude which were nothing less than awesome. The perpetual motion of the ten dark blue-shirted heroes in front of goalkeeper Robert Douglas was typified by Paul Dickov, the little Leicester City striker who has triumphantly re-emerged from Vogts’ inexplicable decision to field him on the right of midfield in the nadir which was that 2-2 draw with the Faroe Islands 14 months ago at the beginning of this European Championship campaign.
It was fitting that the Everton forward, still just 20 years old but already becoming a talismanic figure for the Tartan Army, should claim the only goal of the contest to give Scotland such genuine cause for optimism ahead of their flight to the Netherlands today. The 22nd-minute strike carried a stroke of good fortune about it, but deserved to. It perhaps won’t be lauded 25 years from now with the kind of reverence given to Archie Gemmill’s wondrous goal against the Dutch in 1978, but it was a moment to cherish nonetheless and one which summed up the promise provided by the Scots on Saturday. McFadden worked the ball in from the right to the equally-precocious Darren Fletcher on the edge of the Dutch penalty area, the Manchester United teenager wrong-footing the visitors’ defence with a sublime reverse flick of his right boot which picked out his team-mate’s onward run. McFadden took the pass in his stride and drove in a shot which deflected off De Boer on its way beyond the reach of goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. The goal was just reward for a genuinely inspiring first half performance from Scotland, in which saw them refuse to allow the Netherlands to settle into any kind of pattern from which their preferred passing game could flourish. Ferguson, while seldom able to be the kind of creative force he would desire, was a powerful ally to the grimly determined and impressive Christian Dailly in the centre of Scotland’s midfield, smothering Dutch playmaker Edgar Davids and minimising the threat of Patrick Kluivert who was deployed in a curious deep-lying role behind main striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. On the flanks, Jackie McNamara and Gary Naysmith stuck to their tasks with ferocious commitment against the obvious threat provided by wingers Marc Overmars and Andy van der Meyde. Both could be proud of their efforts, even if McNamara escaped a strong penalty claim in one challenge on Overmars and the powerful Van der Meyde, the Netherlands’ best performer, did manage to run Naysmith ragged on occasion. It was a day when Scotland deserved any breaks which came their way. Naysmith cleared a De Boer header off the line as Scotland were left resembling a boxer trapped on the ropes at the end of the first half, but the Dutch went into their dressing room at the interval with most to be concerned about. Dick Advocaat’s response was to withdraw left-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst and replace him with midfielder Clarence Seedorf, switching to a three at the back system in an effort to exert more pressure on Scotland in forward areas. While the home team found themselves on the back foot for most of the second period, however, there was seldom any sense that they would be overwhelmed by the Dutch. The Scots maintained their discipline and intense concentration levels, nowhere more than in central defence where Steven Pressley and Lee Wilkie offered out-standing protection to Douglas. Wilkie’s selection was a cause for concern to many observers on Saturday, this correspondent among them, but the gangling Dundee man was utterly superb in ensuring that Van Nistelrooy, one of the world’s best strikers, was seldom seen as a threat. The closest the Netherlands came to an equaliser was when Van der Meyde struck the crossbar from a Jaap Stam cross, but Scotland might as easily have doubled their lead on the counter attack when substitute Stephen Pearson almost marked his debut with a goal, volleying narrowly wide. The acclaim afforded to the Scottish players by a thoroughly gratified support at full-time was for a job only half done, of course, and it remains to be seen how the team recover from what was a physically and mentally punishing afternoon. Regardless of how the second leg unfolds, however, Scotland have at the very least gained new levels of respect upon which Vogts must not fail to build a more positive future. Scotland: Douglas, McNamara, Pressley, Wilkie, Naysmith, Fletcher, Dailly, Ferguson, McCann (Pearson 71), Dickov (Miller 66), McFadden (Hutchison 90). Subs not used: Gould, Graham Alexander, Caldwell, Crawford Booked: McFadden, Dailly. Holland: Van der Sar, Ooijer, Stam, De Boer, Van Bronckhorst (Seedorf 45), Van der Meyde, Cocu, Davids (Van der Vaart 60), Overmars, Kluivert (Makaay 77), Van Nistelrooy. Subs not used: Waterreus, Zenden, Reiziger, Van Hooijdonk. Booked: Ooijer, Stam. Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway).
Vogts rises to the occasion
BETWEEN now and Wednesday night, and perhaps for a considerable time beyond, Berti Vogts is likely to sleep much more soundly than Dick Advocaat. Unless, of course, the German is kept awake by the kind of excitement that visits a child on Christmas Eve. For the Dutchman, anxiety will be the hair-greying curse, possibly the remainder of his managerial career dependent on a fleeting 90 minutes at the Amsterdam ArenA. There, before 50,000 expectant fellow citizens, Advocaat’s vulnerable Holland team will have to beat a resurgent Scotland by two goals if they are to avoid the humiliation of failing to reach the European Championship in Portugal next summer. Predictably, Advocaat bristled at times during a severe media interrogation in the aftermath of the Scots’ 1-0 victory in the first leg of the qualifying play-off at Hampden Park. As one colleague noted rather indignantly, if the former Rangers coach had a tendency to accuse the Scottish press of unwarranted hostility during his time at Ibrox, the latter were made to look like compliant sycophants by Dutch counterparts who seemed quite merciless. It will be no comfort to Advocaat to realise that, over the coming 48 hours, the pressure on him will intensify. Scots everywhere will experience a delicious glee on learning that it will be Vogts who makes sure that his rival is subjected to maximum squirming. Whatever limitations the national team manager may have evinced - primarily in language and communication skills - when he succeeded Craig Brown in March, 2002, he has been clever enough in the 20 months since to develop a PR astuteness that is calculated to maximise his own strengths while undermining his opponent’s. Amid the irrelevant banalities that inevitably tumble out of managers at post-match media conferences, Vogts insistently shifted the emphasis to Advocaat’s looming ordeal, regularly reminding anybody within earshot that the Dutchman is the one of whom expectations are immeasurably the higher. Some of the questions posed at these sessions, of course, are as inane as many of the answers, but Vogts demonstrated the evasiveness and counter-thrusting of a matador when he was asked if, no matter the result in Amsterdam, he would still be keen on remaining in his job. It was a query that did not belong in a scene in which Vogts was entitled to revel in the completion of a thrilling, even historic, coup. After a brief, quizzical look, Vogts replied, "Oh, I think that’s something you should be asking Advocaat." The inference was unmissable: that the manager of Holland would have more reason than the manager of Scotland to contemplate his future. Later, Vogts would return every so often to what became a leitmotif in his conversation. "I said it before, and I say it again, all the pressure is on the Dutch, not my Scots," he would repeat. "Of course, there is no reason why we cannot go to Amsterdam and get another good result. During the qualifying, we scored against Germany in Dortmund and I believe we played better in that match than we did against them in the one-each draw at Hampden. Yes, the Germans scored two in Dortmund, but one was a penalty. We lost 2-1, but that would do us this time. The Dutch can only lose, we can only win. It’s not easy for them now, the press will attack them and they will be under a lot of pressure. Maybe their players will give them the right answers on Wednesday, but I think we can score there, too. People asked why we played friendly matches over the past year against big, powerful countries. Well, now you know why. It was to prepare us for days like this. I think we made Holland very nervous today and I hope we can do so again on Wednesday." In the light of events of the past few weeks, there no longer seems any point in questioning the manager’s unshakable optimism. Within 20 minutes of ignominy with an impoverished performance in the final qualifying match against Lithuania at Hampden, he sent the teenaged novice, Darren Fletcher, into the crucible clearly as much in hope as expectation and watched the Manchester United midfielder score the only goal just five minutes later. Berti not only has charm, but seems to be charmed. This is a quality whose value is never underplayed by the most formidable managers in the game. How could anyone have predicted, as Vogts wallowed in the mire of a 2-2 draw in the Faroes barely 14 months ago, the sudden and enormously profitable emergence of Fletcher, James McFadden and, now, Stephen Pearson? How could the extraordinary renaissance of Jackie McNamara, at club and country, have been anticipated? And, two days ago, how could the composed, compact and ultimately heroic performance of Lee Wilkie, standing up to some of the most fearsome players in the world game, have been imagined? It is entirely to Vogts’ credit that he has not kept the prodigies in harness, allowing their talents free rein and gaining his reward by seeing them progress with astonishing rapidity. The only misfortune to have befallen Vogts is the yellow card that makes Christian Dailly ineligible, through suspension, for Wednesday’s match. Dailly said afterwards that he had explained to the Norwegian referee, Terje Hauge, that, when he played the ball on after fouling Andy van der Meyde, he did not realise the game had been stopped. He claimed the official had seemed sympathetic and that there was a chance he would revoke the caution. Vogts held out no hope of such a break and his pessimism was underlined when an SFA official confirmed later that there was no allowance in UEFA regulations for the rescindment of yellow cards. The West Ham man’s loss is appreciable, considering the policing job he did on Patrick Kluivert in front of the home defence, a singular role to which few others, if any, in the Scotland squad appear suited. Even so, Vogts appears to be on such a roll that he is unlikely to be seriously inconvenienced. Like the prospect of bearding the Dutch in their own den, it is not something that is unlikely to induce insomnia. |
IN
PRODUCING arguably the most uplifting and impressive home performance
by the national team for more than six years on Saturday, Scotland did
more than just give themselves a decent chance of sharing centre stage
in Portugal next summer. This utterly gripping, merited and
hard-earned victory over the Netherlands at a fevered Hampden lit a
flame of hope for the future of Scottish international football which
will not be easily snuffed out, no matter the eventual outcome of this
now intriguing play-off tie in Amsterdam on Wednesday. 
Dickov’s
selection raised a few eyebrows, but he fully justified it in his 65
minutes on the pitch. Basically, he was a complete pest for the Dutch
defence, particularly unsettling Frank de Boer who can seldom have
been so rattled during any of his previous 106 appearances for his
country. Alongside Dickov, James McFadden also embodied the swaggering
spirit of the Scottish team. Barry Ferguson, the captain, had spoken
earlier in the week of avoiding any sense of an inferiority complex
against a Dutch team rated the world’s fifth finest by FIFA, and the
incurably gallus McFadden ensured reputations would not be respected.
