Glasgow, Scotland - They came to Hampden Park hoping for a night to remember, but in the end, Scotland's success-hungry supporters had to score a goal they'll never forget. Croatia's 3-1 win in Glasgow qualified the 2018 World Cup finalists for the Round of 16 on Tuesday, but it was Luka Modric's brilliant second-half strike that ended their Scottish dream of ending their perennial tournament misery. terminated.
In the last 10 appearances in a major final, either the World Cup or the European Championship, Scotland was unable to advance beyond the group stage. In fact, his dubious odds of eight failures to reach the knockout stages at the World Cup remains a record – and he has not appeared in any World Cup since 1998.
But this time it should have been different. Steve Clark's team, after ending Scotland's 23-year wait to appear in a major tournament, faced Croatia, knowing that a victory on home turf would eventually end their long wait. The 0-0 draw against England at Wembley on Friday enabled the Scots to make close enough contact to touch the game.
And as Scottish fans – known as the Tartan Army – got off the trains to Hampden at Mount Florida station, there was a solid feeling that they really felt it was their time.
But to end the party atmosphere, 35-year-old Croatian maestro Modric also came along. His 62nd-minute goal, a brilliant shot from 20 yards from the outside of his right foot, helped Croatia beat Croatia 2–1 and score twice in less than half an hour for Scotland to win the game. Left with an almost impossible task. This saw him become Croatia's oldest scorer at Euros, 13 years after becoming his youngest, with a goal against Austria at Euro 2008.
Scotland's Callum McGregor said of Modric's goal, "At this stage you are against it." "It was a hard lesson."
McGregor's 42nd-minute goal for Scotland, which canceled out Nikola Vlasic in the 17th minute, gave the Scots hope of a second-half victory. It also raised decibel levels in stadiums limited to just 12,000 supporters due to COVID-19 regulations.
Scotland, without Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour due to a positive COVID-19 test, were targeting strikers Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams directly with long balls. They were energetic and ready to take on the Croatians on the side of the road in a physical fight.
But their inability to control possession was always going to be a problem against a clever and experienced team like Croatia. In many ways, Scotland allowed Zlatko Dalic's team to pass him in submission, as they did for England in the 2018 World Cup semi-final, when Modric was once again the conductor and controller of the ball.
Modric further embellished his performance in the 77th minute to ensure a second-place win behind England in Group D by crossing third-placed Ivan Perisic of Croatia.
Croatia is a quality team. Yes, they are stacked with aging players who are probably playing in their last major tournament, but the likes of Modric, Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic can hurt either side, and the defensive partnership of Dejan Lovran and Domagoj Vida is quite a big deal. Is strong and firm. To fight tooth and nail against any opponent. No team will be happy to face Croatia in the knockout stage. They know how to win and their ability to control a game was probably the worst team to ever play for Scotland.
"We came up against an excellent team," said Scottish midfielder John McGuin. "And he has experience in major tournaments and he showed up tonight."
But Croatia's quality will be no consolation to the Scots, who have seen minnows such as Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and even Iceland advance through the group stages of major tournaments, sometimes at the first attempt . Greece also managed to win one.
It is now 11 tournaments and counting for Scotland, and who knows when they will get another chance to overtake a group? After failing to reach the World Cup this century, don't count on them to play in Qatar next year.
The Scots' pain is that there have been too many close misses and this, based on the fact that they only had to win one home game, was another.
On four occasions, he has been denied qualification by goal difference. In 1974, when the team released a tournament song called "Easy, Easy", Scotland became the first team to pull out of the World Cup without losing a game - but they still could not escape their group. Four years later, coach Eli MacLeod claimed that his Scottish side would win the World Cup in Argentina, but after a draw against Iran and a loss to Peru, they were once again on the first flight home. And at Euro 96, Scotland were 12 minutes away from qualifying from their group, only for the Netherlands' 4–1 loss against England by Patrick Kluivert in the 78th minute to enable the Dutch to deny the Scots on goal difference. for.
Against Croatia, supporters made enough noise to propel Scotland to victory, but the game was decided on the pitch rather than the stand. From the very beginning it was clear that there was going to be only one winner.
If Scotland had Modric in the team, they probably would have passed it. But Modric is the magician of Croatia and Scotland can hope to find one of their own in time for their next attempt to avoid a group at a major tournament.