Squad as announced on 2nd October Goalkeepers Matt Gilks (Blackpool), Allan McGregor (Besiktas), David Marshall (Cardiff City) Defenders Christophe Berra (Wolves), Gary Caldwell (Wigan Athletic), Daniel Fox (Southampton), Grant Hanley (Blackburn Rovers), Alan Hutton (Aston Villa), Russell Martin (Norwich City), Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic), Andy Webster (Heart of Midlothian) Midfielders Charlie Adam (Stoke), Scott Brown (Celtic), Darren Fletcher (Manchester United), James Forrest (Celtic), James McArthur (Wigan Athletic), Shaun Maloney (Wigan Athletic), James Morrison (West Bromwich Albion), Robert Snodgrass (Norwich City) Forwards Steven Fletcher (Sunderland), Jamie Mackie (Queens Park Rangers), Kenny Miller (Vancouver Whitecaps), Steven Naismith (Everton), Matt Phillips (Blackpool), Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn Rovers) Well the good news, as we all no doubt know is both Steven and Darren Fletcher are back in the squad. We're sure to need both, especially in Brussels. But yet again there is no place for Kris Commons. He is one of the in form players in Scotland right now but cannot find a way into the national team. Yet players who aren't even getting a regular game at club level (Jamie Mackie) are still included. No wonder he's baffled... Belgium Squad - Goalkeepers : Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid), Jean-François Gillet (Torino), Simon Mignolet (Sunderland) Defenders : Toby Alderweireld (Ajax), Laurent Ciman (Standard Liege), Guillaume Gillet (Anderlecht), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit St Petersburg), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham Hotspur) Midfielders : Nacer Chadli (Twente), Steven Defour (Porto), Moussa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur), Marouane Fellaini (Everton), Timmy Simons (Nurnberg), Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg) Forwards : Christian Benteke (Aston Villa), Kevin De Bruyne (Werder Bremen), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion), Dries Mertens (PSV Eindhoven), Kevin Mirallas (Everton), Jelle Vossen (Genk) That team has the potential and the ability to make a significant impression in Brazil in 2014. If we come away from there with 1pt it will be an excellent nights work. Wales Squad - Jason Brown (Aberdeen), Lewis Price (Crystal Palace), Owain Fôn Williams (Tranmere Rovers), Darcy Blake (Crystal Palace), Ben Davies (Swansea City), Chris Gunter (Reading), Joel Lynch (Huddersfield Town), Adam Matthews (Celtic), Sam Ricketts (Bolton Wanderers), Ashley Williams (Swansea City, capt), Joe Allen (Liverpool), David Edwards (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Andy King (Leicester City), Joe Ledley (Celtic), Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), David Vaughan (Sunderland), Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur), Simon Church (Reading), Steve Morison, (Norwich City), Hal Robson-Kanu (Reading), Sam Vokes (Burnley). No pushover, even after their gubbing in Serbia but if we are to have any hope of Brazil we need a win. Nothing else will do. Small note: we've now dropped to no.57 in the FIFA international rankings. In Oct 2007 we were as high as no.13. Heady days...
Is Belgium the new underrated/flavor of the month? Should be interesting, hope the match is on here in The States.
There's no doubt that the NT has deteriorated rapidly since then, but the FIFA rankings are to be taken with a proverbial dose of salt. Do you think that England are really the 5th best national team on the planet?
Under-rated???? Everyone's falling over themselves to say how brillinat they are at the moment. Results simply haven't borne that out yet at all. If anything that makes them completely over-rated. They've got thetalent to turn that around though, no doubt about it. I'd take 4 points right now.
Not at all, and I completely agree that they do need to be re-worked to give more sensible rankings. But, although the positions are wrong it does show, to an extent, how far the national team has fallen in such a short space of time. Yep. They haven't achieved anything yet but the potential and the promise is all there. Here's hoping it takes another 12mths or so to manifest itself into actual performances.
What's been the problem with the Belgium group? Why haven't they qualified for anything yet? Do they all hate each other like the Dutch do? Is that a Low Countries trait?
Especially with Avril saying we don't need to beat Wales http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/scotland-boss-craig-levein-we-dont-1374081 What a fanny. At least a defeat will edge this defeatist clown closer towards the sack.
I am not one for wanting a manager pushed out the door but I do not agree with Levein's tactics or some of his team selections. On top of that I think serious questions have to be asked about his overall demeanour and the inspiration (or lack of) he provides to his squad.
Generally neither am I, and I don't want Scotland to lose, but I can only see our downward trajectory continuing rapidly under Levein. He makes Gordon Brown and Andy Murray seem almost inspiring.
It's bitter to lose a crucial game due to such a dive (just remembers me of the last-minute pk the Czechs got at Hampden ... which costed you the Euro 2012 qualification in the end). ********ing referees, ********ing divers!!
Scotland 0-0 Serbia 'We'll kick start our campaign against Macedonia...' Scotland 0-0 Macedonia 'We need to take 4pts from our next double header...' Wales 2-1 Scotland 'We'll win in Belgium...' Can someone please cart him off to Carstairs.
I can't speak about the match as I only managed to see fragments of it. That said, I know all the blame can't be laid on Levein for the defeat. After all, who lets Bale run from the halfway line to the edge of the box and give him a clear shot at goal in the 89th minute of a tied match...?
Well that's finally put an end to any hopes of Brazil 2014 then. And Levein still clings on. Why...? I don't understand what he was trying to achieve last night. We had an uphill task in trying to defeat this young emerging Belgium side in their own home but did we ever look likely to score a goal...? If he had any tactic (personally I think he just put the team out there and hoped he got lucky) then it worked, initially. We didn't concede an early goal. We were frustrating both the players and the crowd. We never looked like scoring bar Maloney's free kick. But, as the match wore on we needed to try to change the flow of the game otherwise we were never going to have even the smallest chance of winning it. He brought on Mackie for an ineffectual Commons. Fair play. But he set Mackie into the exact same position that Commons had held. He didn't change the shape or the setup of the side. So how did he expect the match to change?? There was an inevitability that Belgium would eventually score. And so they did. But it took them nearly 70mins to break the deadlock. When was Levein going to change things? Or am I right in thinking he was just hoping we'd get lucky? A draw was no good to us. Only a win would suffice. All a draw would have accomplished was to put a dent in Belgium's qualifying campaign. It wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference to ours. After an hour he should have changed the shape of the side and tried to at least give us some sort of opportunity to change the course of the game. Take off the 2 sitting mids (Fletcher & McArthur) and bring on Mulgrew and Phillips. Stick Mulgrew in front of the back 4 to still offer some sort of protection and then have a 3 in front of Maloney-Morrison-Phillips. Stick Mackie up top with Fletcher and he might have lasted the whole game rather than chasing lost causes all night and knackering himself out in the process. Would that have worked? Maybe not. Probably not even. But at least it's an attempt to change the game. To take a risk. But Levein doesn't do risks. He looks for us, first and foremost, to not concede. He never looks at how we're going to create and score. And I don't think that mentality will change any time soon. His high point was the Nations Cup or a 3-1 friendly win against Australia. His record in competitive matches has been extremely poor. The idiots at the SFA need to get rid now and allow another manager to attempt to at least bring some sort of pride back and have the supporters actually enjoy watching the national team again because it's too bloody painful to watch with Levein at the helm.
Scotlands goalkeeper was sublime. If Scotland would attack more belgium would've had more space and would score 5,6 goals for sure. the score could be 5-1 in the end anyway.
Scotland needed a win. a 2-0 loss isn't any better than a 5-1 loss. Scotland needed to score and win, or "die trying".