Steve Clarke’s history-making team has a ferocious work ethic that should typify what Scotland stands for
It was not a time for calm reflection. Kenny McLean had just lobbed Kasper Schmeichel from the halfway line. Limbs. Unbridled, unfiltered joy.
On one outrageous Hampden Park night McLean, Kieran Tierney and Scott McTominay relegated Archie Gemmill’s stupendous solo effort against the Netherlands in 1978 to merely the fourth best Scotland goal of all time. Zinedine Zidane’s volley for Real Madrid in Hampden’s Champions League final of 2002? A mere tap-in by comparison. What was produced by McTominay, Tierney and McLean will live long in the memories of the children and grandchildren of anybody who was in attendance on Tuesday night. They call McLean “the Mayor of Norwich”. He may as well now be the mayor of Nairn, North Berwick and Newtongrange.
Some argue international football has lost relevance amid club obsessions and the attached corporate boom. Scotland have proved precisely the opposite. The strength of feeling linked to their achievement has been so incredibly striking. Scotland cares deeply and passionately about its football team. The country is proud to be afforded the status a World Cup will bring. The 2026 version will be enriched by Scottish involvement; certainly off the field if not on it.
