Scottish football has been the butt of the joke in the British Isles for quite some time now. The Scottish Premier League, or SPL, has been trying to fight the stereotype that Scottish football is terrible via an active YouTube page. The Scottish national team has been including new and talented young players that ply their trade in a diverse number of high level leagues across Europe in order to show that Scottish football is indeed quality.
Unfortunately, both organizations' efforts look a little silly at the moment. Scotland travelled to Astana to play Kazakhstan for its first game of UEFA Euro 2022 qualifying today, and the Scots did nothing more than embarrass themselves.
Scotland starting line-up to face Kazakhstan in the Astana Arena.
1. Scott Bain
2. Liam Palmer
3. Graeme Shinnie
4. John McGinn
5. David Bates
6. Scott McKenna
7. James Forrest
8. Callum McGregor (C)
9. Oli McBurnie
10. Stuart Armstrong
11. Oliver Burke#NothingMattersMore— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) March 21, 2019
Fielding a strong lineup considering the opponent, it looked like Scotland would glide through the match with a win. Maybe the players felt the same, but they quickly realized they’d be on the back foot a lot during the first half. The Scots found themselves down 2-0 within ten minutes. Scotland tried to push for a consolation, but Kazakhstan added a third six minutes into the second half.
FULL TIME. Kazakhstan 3-0 Scotland.
A great result for the hosts, a disastrous start to the qualifying campaign for Scotland.Two early goals did the damage and Scotland never really recovered.
Reaction: https://t.co/v0bdId3ydS#KAZSCO pic.twitter.com/LTDfTZLSo1
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 21, 2019
Believe it or not, Kazakhstan is not considered a world-beater. At home, Kazakhstan’s record has been nothing short of poor. Still, a win against Scotland certainly put some wind in their sails.
Teams to lose to Kazakhstan by three or more goals without scoring since 1994:
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) March 21, 2019
Credit to Kazakhstan though, which doesn’t seem to stand a chance of qualifying from its group in the long run. Scotland, on the other hand, had an incredibly poor performance — one that could’ve been a vital three points to compete with Russia, Belgium and even Cyprus.
Now doubts about Alex McLeish's job are beginning to worsen. McLesh weirdly stated that Scotland "started well" despite going down two goals in the first ten minutes. After the match, the internet exploded.
Scotland fans: “That was the worst Scotland result I’ve seen”
Alex McLeish: “Worst result you’ve seen so far” pic.twitter.com/WI4eyAjFTX— John Hodge (@19jhodgkiss) March 21, 2019
Naturally, both neutral and England fans took to Twitter to get the banter in. It wasn’t pretty.
SAN Marino manager trying to work out who he’s gonna rest for the Scotland game.
— lets do this (@PaulBel45388838) March 21, 2019
San Marino must know it has a chance now. An all-around poor performance on a stage that matters basically undid all the work Scotland's football association was trying to do to dial back the criticism. Scotland’s next match is away to San Marino on Sunday. God knows what will happen if the Scots somehow lose there.
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