Thanks for reading this MBM. A good performance by Scotland … and what a kit!
Steve Clarke talks to Viaplay Sports. “Result good, performance good in parts, there are bits we can improve on … historically we don’t always start campaigns well, so it’s nice to get three points and look forward to a fantastic night on Tuesday … it’s nice when you look at the bench and you need a bit more energy and you put on a Ryan Christie and Scott McTominay … towards the end we got the reward for that … Angus Gunn’s handling was clean and his kicking was good … I did tell him to check his studs at half-time after he slipped and managed to sit on the ball, which maybe shows he’s got a little bit of luck on his side! … there have been many afternoons at Hampden when Scotland are 1-0 going into the last ten minutes and the place becomes very nervous … credit to the players who kept believing … on the whole we defended well … we need to work a little bit on the press, we didn’t get that quite right … but if there’s nothing to work on, it gets boring, eh?!”
He also reports that Che Adams has a calf problem.
Callum McGregor, named player of the match, is in lockstep with McGinn, telling Viaplay his take is “probably similar … obviously three goals and a clean sheet is a good start … but maybe that shows where the group is, and the progression we’re trying to make is that we’re now looking at the finer details and closing those fine margins so we progress through the tournament and be good enough to be at major tournaments … I think it’s a good sign … to play for Scotland just once in my career would have been enough but to get to 50 is a really special achievement and is something I’m really proud of … Angus Gunn did great today, a clean sheet … this one’s gone, great, three points … now we’ll do the work on Spain and try to get a result that keeps us ticking over in the group.”
A word from Steve Clarke soon, so don’t leave us yet … but Ewan Murray was at Hampden and his verdict is in. Here it is!
John McGinn isn’t quite so happy with Scotland’s performance, telling Viaplay: “We need to be honest … if we want to get to the Euros, we need to improve … it’s the first time a long time we’ve won the opening game … we need to take the positives but if we want to move to the next level we need to improve … the improvement needs to be there on Tuesday … we looked a bit flat … I’m being a bit picky I think, but it’s one of those days it could have ended up one each … we know each other inside out now … maybe I’m being a bit harsh after three goals and a clean sheet.”
Scotland deservedly open their Euro 2024 campaign with a victory. The scoreline doesn’t flatter them, either, even if they had to wait until the last knockings for Scott McTominay to embellish the win with his well-taken double. While bottom seeds Cyprus were in it until the 87th minute, a state of affairs that made Scotland sweat, they were always second best. A bigger test coming up for Scotland, though: it’s Spain on Tuesday night.
FULL TIME: Scotland 3-0 Cyprus
Three goals, three points, the perfect start to Group A for Scotland!
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RED CARD: Ioannou (Cyprus)
90 min +5: Ioannou, frustrated at an offside decision, lashes the ball away in frustration. A second yellow, and this has gone pear-shaped very quickly for Cyprus.
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GOAL! Scotland 3-0 Cyprus (McTominay 90+3)
McGinn slips Christie into space down the left. His cutback finds Robertson, who rolls across to McTominay. He opens his body and sidefoots carefully into the bottom right, Demetriou rooted to the spot!
90 min +3: Spoljaric is lucky to escape a booking for wrestling with Dykes. But nobody really cares, because …
90 min +2: Antoniou has a dig but it’s well off target. Cyprus come again through Loizou, who dribbles dangerously infield from the right wing, but McTominay tidies up.
90 min +1: That was a hell of a finish by McTominay, you know. Cushioned on the knee, then forensically whistled into the top corner from a tight angle.
90 min: There will be five additional minutes.
89 min: It’s nearly three as Dykes causes bother down the inside-left channel. The ball breaks to Robertson, who powers clear into the area before sending a rising drive over the bar from a tight angle. McGinn, free in the middle, waves his hands in frustration. Robertson smiles wryly.
GOAL! Scotland 2-0 Cyprus (McTominay 87)
Scotland finally put some distance between themselves and their guests! Christie chases a lost cause down the right and traps on the byline. He crosses deep. Dykes cushions a fine header into the path of McTominay, who takes one touch before roofing a shot into the top-left corner from six yards. That’s a fine goal!
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86 min: Dykes and Robertson combine well down the left. Christie wins a corner and takes it himself. He overhits it. Hampden sighs.
85 min: Kakoulli turns on the left-hand edge of the Scotland D and fires a low shot goalwards. It takes a slight deflection but Gunn is behind it all the way.
84 min: Robertson crosses from the left. Patterson returns from the right. Robertson tries again. The game of full-back tennis ends there.
82 min: Robertson throws in from the left, receives the ball back, and fires a low cross through the six-yard box. The ball’s begging to be poked home, but Dykes can’t reach it. What a cross that was!
81 min: Christie is penalised for accidentally swinging an arm into Roberge’s startled coupon. The Cyprus bench want serious punishment meted out, but it’s just a garden-variety free kick.
80 min: Hickey, who has picked up a knock, is replaced by Patterson. The game restarts and Kakoulli has a shot from the edge of the Scotland box blocked. Hampden is properly nervous now.
78 min: Cyprus make another double change. Gogic and Kastanos are replaced by Loizou and Tzioni.
76 min: Christie knocks the ball past Antoniou on the left touchline and is skittled by the Cypriot for his trouble. The referee, who has made one or two strange decisions this afternoon, to the detriment of both teams, waves play on. Christie is apoplectic, understandably so.
74 min: A birthday card for Porteous, 24 today. It’s a yellow, correctly awarded for a cynical clip on the in-flight Artymatas.
73 min: Hampden tries to rouse Scotland with a chorus of Flower of Scotland. But it’s Cyprus who move through the gears Ioannou, bombing down the left and nearly sending Kakoulli clear down the middle. Tierney intercepts, at the cost of a whack to the ankle.
71 min: The game becomes scrappy again, and with the lead so precarious, the nerves around Hampden are becoming more evident.
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69 min: Scotland’s two new men are immediately in the thick of the action, as Dykes, fighting with his back to goal, tees up Christie, eight yards out. Christie’s shot is blocked. It breaks back to McTominay, who has no better luck. Cyprus win that particular game of pinball.
68 min: Cyprus then make a double change of their own. Pittas and Kyriakou make way for Kakoulli and Charalampous.
67 min: Scotland make a double change. McTominay and Christie replace Jack and Armstrong.
66 min: Armstrong sends a speculative thrash straight down Demetriou’s throat.
65 min: Armstrong bursts down the middle before sliding Robertson into space on the left. Robertson sends a low diagonal ball into the mixer. Hickey slides in but can’t telescope his leg to poke home. Goal kick.
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64 min: Jack slides in on Kastanos, the sort of challenge that usually leads to a booking but this time doesn’t even end with a free kick. Scotland are getting a bit sloppy.
62 min: Armstrong and Robertson combine down the left but the final flick, intended to release McGregor into the box, is off target.
60 min: Hickey barrels his way down the right and cuts back for McGinn, who shovels a cross miles over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick. Hampden, the Baccara buzz long having worn off, groans as one.
59 min: This is all a bit scrappy. Scotland haven’t really got going yet in this second half.
58 min: Adams, who has worked relentlessly this afternoon, hobbles off looking more disappointed than in pain. Dykes takes his place.
56 min: Adams goes down, having taken a whack when (fairly) challenged by Gogic back there. On comes the physio.
54 min: Adams threatens to break into the Cypriot box down the inside right, but Gogic, not for the first time this afternoon, makes a fine last-ditch tackle. The visitors clear their lines.
53 min: Ioannou is booked for giving the referee lip. To be fair, he’d just been penalised for a non-existent tug on Hickey, but haranguing officialdom crossed a line.
51 min: Robertson blooters the corner long, in the direction of absolutely no-one.
50 min: Jack snaffles possession in midfield and feeds Adams down the left. Adams crosses. It’s blocked, but his sheer persistence wins a corner.
48 min: It’s Hanley versus Pittas again, with similar results. Cyprus have come back out on the front foot, though.
47 min: Pittas threatens to break down the middle, only for Hanley to step across and dispossess him with the cutest of backheels. The crowd enjoyed that, too.
46 min: Hampden threw a fine half-time party, by the way, everyone in the house giving it their best Baccara.
Cyprus get the second half started. They’ve replaced Kousoulos with Spoljaric. “A shout-out to Evie McMahon,” begins her dad and MBM fixture Simon, “who is yet again showing her old man up by actually being at the game as a fully paid up member of the Tartan Army, rather than following the MBM at home. Born June 1998, and eventually got to see Scotland play in a major finals 23 years later. Only to exit at the group stage. In my first 23 years, Scotland played in five World Cups and a European Championships. And exited at the group stage every time. Plus ça change.”
Half-time entertainment. “Doesn’t get any more squeaky bum than the World Cup qualifier between Cyprus and Scotland in February 1989,” begins Tony Hughes. “A great Scotland line up playing really badly and somehow getting the win. Richard Gough wins the game, after being down 2-1 well into the second half, in the sixth minute of Fergie time.” Yep, that was a great campaign, Andy Roxbrugh’s side qualifying for Italia 90 ahead of a France team containing Jean-Pierre Papin, Didier Deschamps and Eric Cantona. Different times all right.
HALF TIME: Scotland 1-0 Cyprus
Scotland deservedly lead at the break. Damn that kit looks good.
45 min +1: VAR correctly decides Gogic got the ball and not his man, then Kousoulos clears the corner.
45 min: Adams very nearly releases Hickey into the box with a clever flick down the right channel. Not quite. Scotland are playing some good stuff, though, and they come again down the left, Adams denied a shot on goal by Gogic’s last-ditch slide. Corner, though VAR are going to check for a possible penalty.
43 min: Scotland come again, though, and McGinn barges his way into the box down the right and cuts back for Adams, whose first-time rising drive is tipped over by Demetriou. Great save, and nothing comes of the corner.
41 min: Tierney plays a ball down the inside-left channel for Adams. The referee – no kidding – turns it around the corner for Armstrong, and inexplicably waves play on! Fortunately for the ref, his accidental flick comes to nought for Scotland, who are soon forced to turn tail.
40 min: Kastanos has the opportunity to release Pittas down the inside-right channel, but clanks his pass straight to Hanley, who intercepts and clears. For a second there, Scotland were exposed for the first time this afternoon.
39 min: Scotland have enjoyed 66 percent of possession so far. Cyprus bump up their stats a bit by passing it around the back for a minute or so.
37 min: Scotland cause more bother down the left, with Armstrong, Tierney and Robertson relentless. A corner. Robertson’s delivery isn’t all that, and the visitors clear.
36 min: The ball’s flicked into the Cyprus box from the left. McGinn nearly gets on the end of it, but clanks into Demetriou and the whistle is Cyprus’s friend.
34 min: A long ball sent down the Cyprus inside-left channel nearly embarrasses Gunn, who comes to the edge of his box to collect only to slip just before he reaches it. But when you’re luck’s in, it’s in. As he falls, he straddles the ball, which clanks back off his boot and nestles in his special place. Somehow everything’s still in the penalty box, and he’s able to gather. That could have been very embarrassing.
32 min: Kastanos performs the dying swan in the vague environs of McGregor, and goes into the referee’s notebook for his brazen cheek.
31 min: Cyprus press, but Scotland stroke it around the back with confidence and play their way out of trouble. Hickey, Hanley and Porteous all assured.
29 min: Robertson and Tierney combine down the left, where Scotland are finding plenty of joy. Another deflected cross, but this one doesn’t quite fall for either McGinn or Adams. Cyprus clear their lines.
27 min: The ball bounces loosely in the midfield. Artymatas decides to meet it with an almighty whack, and isn’t too far away from embarrassing Gunn, who was on walkabout. The ambitious effort sails harmlessly wide right, but for a split second, Scottish hearts were in mouths.
26 min: That’s McGinn’s 16th goal for Scotland. Not a bad return for his 53 appearances, huh.
25 min: That’s got the home crowd going again. The atmosphere had fallen a little bit flat as a result of Scotland’s patient approach. And there’s another roar as Adams plays Tierney into space down the left, but the cross doesn’t find a dark-blue retro shirt in the box.
23 min: No bother! The goal stands, and Hampden roars! Roberge was playing Robertson on in the middle.
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22 min: … but they’re checking for offside. Did Robertson go too early? VAR is on the case.
GOAL! Scotland 1-0 Cyprus (McGinn 21)
Armstrong slips a ball down the left channel for Robertson, who crosses. A deflection loops it towards McGinn at the far stick. He can’t miss. He opens his body and sidefoots into the bottom right. Easy as that!
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20 min: Kyriakou’s fresh-air kick affords Armstrong the opportunity to make good down the left and cross. Unfortunately the ball in goes nowhere near Adams. No matter, though, because …
19 min: Adams and McGinn combine cutely down the right and very nearly send Hickey clear. Cyprus slam the door shut just in time.
17 min: Kastanos is fine to continue, and he’s soon whistling a range-finder straight at Gunn, who is thankful for his first meaningful touch as a Scotland international. He handles well.
15 min: That was a strange one, though. Armstrong caught his man, and by stopping the Cypriot charge, was always going to be yellow carded. But he got the ball as well. Scotland claim the booking is harsh; Cyprus want a red. VAR has a second look and shows absolutely no interest in upgrading the punishment.
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14 min: Robertson swings it in, but Cyprus break quickly upfield. Armstrong slides in on Kastanos and the counter is nixed at source. Armstrong goes into the book as a result.
13 min: Hickey garrinchas his way into the box from the right. He sends Laifis off to the shops with a drop of the shoulder, then arrows a surprise shot towards the bottom right from a tight angle. Demetriou is forced to turn around his post. Corner.
12 min: Scotland are playing a patient game and Hampden has simmered down as a result. It doesn’t help that Porteous lumps an aimless ball upfield, nowhere near any of his team-mates. It sails apologetically through to Demetriou.
10 min: This is a little sharper, though. Armstrong reaches the byline out on the left and cuts back for McGinn who attempts, from the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, a cute flipper towards the bottom right. He doesn’t quite get enough on it and it sails across the face of goal. Not sure Demetriou was getting to that had it been on target.
9 min: It’s all Scotland in terms of possession. All a bit sterile, though.
7 min: Scotland clearly fancy this left flank. Tierney tries to release Armstrong with a speculative pass down the channel, but again it’s too long. Demetriou comes to the edge of his box to gather.
6 min: Robertson pings long down the left for Adams, who lays back for Armstrong. Robertson had kept going, and Armstrong tries to find him on the overlap, but his pass is way too strong. Goal kick. Had that been weighted properly, Robertson was screaming into space.
5 min: Porteous sticks his elbow into Ioannou’s lug and it’s a free kick out for Cyprus out on the left. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Scotland box. Kastanos hoicks it into the mixer. Hanley heads clear and the danger is over.
3 min: Demetriou flaps at the corner. Tierney tries to return the ball into the mixer from the right, but his cross is blocked. A bright start for the hosts, though.
2 min: Armstrong hugs the left touchline and makes off at speed. Antoniou is forced to make a fine last-ditch tackle as he threatens to break clear. Then McGinn gets involved to win the first corner of the afternoon.
1 min: Scotland are also wearing white shorts and red socks. All is right with the world.
Scotland get the ball rolling. Hampden roars.
The teams are out! Scotland are in dark blue, Cyprus in second-choice white. The hosts wear their glorious new retro shirt that celebrates 150 years of the SFA. It is an absolute belter. As is Flower of Scotland, which gets a passionate pre-match bellow. We’ll be off in a minute!
Steve Clarke, whose first match as Scotland boss was against Cyprus at Hampden four years ago, talks to Viaplay Sports. “A new campaign, and hopefully the players can continue doing what they’ve done … hopefully Angus Gunn has a very good debut for Scotland … I’ve got options on the pitch, I can change in-game formation if we have to, and I have fantastic options off the bench, which shows how far we’ve improved as a national squad … we hope to pick up enough points to qualify directly for Germany 2024 … we have the backup of the playoffs, but we don’t want to go through the knockout stage, we want to do it through the groups, and that starts today.”
Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor wins his 50th cap for Scotland, while in goal Norwich City’s Angus Gunn makes his debut. St Mirren midfielder Alex Gogic starts for the visitors.
The teams
Scotland: Gunn, Hickey, Porteous, Hanley, Tierney, Robertson, Armstrong, Jack, McGregor, McGinn, Adams.
Subs: Kelly, Clark, Patterson, McTominay, Dykes, Christie, Hyam, Gilmour, Cooper, Ferguson, Brown, McLean.
Cyprus: Dimitriou, Antoniou, Kousoulos, Gogic, Roberge, N Ioannou, Kyriakou, Laifis, Artymatas, Kastanos, Pittas.
Subs: Panayi, Spoljaric, Karo, Antoniades, Charalampous, Efrem, M Ioannou, Christofi, Kakoulli, Spoljaric, Loizou, Tzioni.
Referee: Duje Strukan (Croatia).
🏴 Your Scotland team for today's European Qualifier against Cyprus.
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) March 25, 2023
Come on Scotland!#SCOCYP pic.twitter.com/GP9nGCdGEA
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Preamble
Scotland start their Euro 2024 qualification campaign against a team they only squeaked past in their last one. Kick off is at 2pm GMT. It’s on!
