Bud the Baker Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) ...with their qualification this evening, Hungary have became the latest European team to join the long list to have qualified for a major finals more recently than Scotland. Here's the full list (I don't think I've missed any but I could be wrong): GermanySpainHollandEnglandFranceItalyLatviaNorwayPolandAustriaSwedenDenmarkPortugalSwitzerlandCroatiaIcelandSerbia and Montenegro (also as Yugoslavia)BosniaWalesNorthern IrelandRepublic of IrelandSloveniaSlovakiaAlbaniaCzech RepublicBelgiumGreeceRussiaTurkeyUkraineBulgariaRomaniaHungaryI make that a remarkable 33 European countries to have qualified for a major finals since 1998. 33 out of 54 current UEFA members, most of Europe have qualified more recently than us. When you consider of the 21 who haven't qualified since 1998 a good portion are no hopers who will never qualify like Gibraltar, Lichtenstein, Andorra etc... It really gives a bit of perspective of the company we are keeping.The most prestigious nations not on the list are the likes of Finland, Cyprus and Israel... Desperate times indeed. ***************** Personally I blame it on the appointment of Andy Roxburgh & Craig Brown to manage the national team in 1986 - I felt we changed our style too much even though we qualified for two WC tournaments in the '90's. 1990 when the full effects of the change hadn't worked it way through although even by then my opinion was that we were clearly on the slide. 1998 when the tournament had been enlarged to include 32 teams. Since then we have largely continued with the policy of playing football "the right way" with little success while the main architect of our downfall lives out his career in a succession of sinecures. Edited November 16, 2015 by Bud the Baker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beyond our ken Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 ...with their qualification this evening, Hungary have became the latest European team to join the long list to have qualified for a major finals more recently than Scotland. Here's the full list (I don't think I've missed any but I could be wrong): Germany Spain Holland England France Italy Latvia Norway Poland Austria Sweden Denmark Portugal Switzerland Croatia Iceland Serbia and Montenegro (also as Yugoslavia) Bosnia Wales Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Slovenia Slovakia Albania Czech Republic Belgium Greece Russia Turkey Ukraine Bulgaria Romania Hungary I make that a remarkable 33 European countries to have qualified for a major finals since 1998. 33 out of 54 current UEFA members, most of Europe have qualified more recently than us. When you consider of the 21 who haven't qualified since 1998 a good portion are no hopers who will never qualify like Gibraltar, Lichtenstein, Andorra etc... It really gives a bit of perspective of the company we are keeping. The most prestigious nations not on the list are the likes of Finland, Cyprus and Israel... Desperate times indeed. ***************** Personally I blame it on the appointment of Andy Roxburgh & Craig Brown to manage the national team in 1986 - I felt we changed our style too much even though we qualified for two WC tournaments in the '90's. 1990 when the full effects of the change hadn't worked it way through although even by then my opinion was that we were clearly on the slide. 1998 when the tournament had been enlarged to include 32 teams. Since then we have largely continued with the policy of playing football "the right way" with little success while the main architect of our downfall lives out his career in a succession of sinecures. Andy Roxburgh, the man who went on telly (with a straight face) to defend his choice of Roy Aitken as a creative midlield playmaker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insaintee Posted November 16, 2015 Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) You could still see it in the U21's on Friday. TECHNICALLY Scotland were BETTER than Ukraine. There was no one on the pitch to match McGinn, while Cummings, King and Henderson were also good technically. But oh dear we defended like fannies. We were over elaborate in the final third where we took the safe option every time. We also looked disorganised in midfield where as ever movement was poor. Edited November 16, 2015 by insaintee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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