Ewan Murray was at Cologne Stadium tonight. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
Steve Clarke lands a couple of zingers on the BBC. “It was nice to see them! … we didn’t turn up in the first game … we know how we can play … we know we have to be aggressive … we’re a good team when we play … you have to put the first game off as a really bad night for us … we sat back too much … tonight we made sure we went after the ball … it worked against a very good Switzerland team … if [Ralston’s misplaced pass] falls to any other Swiss player, I don’t think they score … if it falls to Shaqiri … you get harshly punished for a small mistake … it was a good game between two evenly matched sides … [the short turnaround between now and Sunday] is why went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen … they have fantastic facilities … a lovely river floating through it with glacial melt coming off the mountains … we might just sit them in the river for a couple of days!”
He also reports that Kieran Tierney is “definitely out … it looks pretty bad … Kieran won’t make the next game … it’s a shame but someone else has to step in and step up to the mark.”
Angus Gunn’s turn to speak to the Beeb. “Everything from the start was ten times better … our aggression, winning the ball high up … the lads managed to keep it going for 90 minutes … it was much more like us … [a lack of aggression] was where it started on Friday, where we let ourselves down … that’s what we wanted to bring back and we did that … you can see what a lift it gives the players and the fans … it was a pretty even second half … we’ll take it to the last game … personally I was hurting after the game on Friday, I didn’t feel like I did myself justice … that was the motivation for today, to show what we’re all about … everyone to a man did that today … we wanted to go into the last game having something to play for … we know what we have to do … hopefully we’ll pull off another big game for Scotland.”
Billy Gilmour talks to the BBC. “We gave everything out there … we knew we had to bounce back after the last performance … it puts us in a good place … we did well tonight and now we focus on the next … tonight was more like a Scotland performance … we put everything into that … we believed … we’ve been working straight after the Germany game … to make sure we did it right … in the opening game maybe nerves kicked in … tonight everything was there.”
Andrew Robertson speaks to the BBC. “More like us, much more like us … aggressive, on the front foot … couldn’t get off to a better start … we made a mistake but let’s make no mistake about it, Tony Ralston was unbelievable after that mistake … not many people could come back from that … second half he was different class … fair play to him … we had our chances but so did they … an open game between two really good teams going at it … we were a lot more happy with our performance … we’ll take the draw … we’ve taken it to the last game and that’s all we can ask … it was about getting back to being us … we’ve left absolutely everything out there … we need to go again Sunday … we faced a really good team today and we face another on Sunday … we can take a lot of positives from tonight … but we can also bring even more, so that’s the good thing … hopefully you’ll see that on Sunday, but we need to get into our beds now and recover!”
Scotland go up as a man to their fans and applaud the stellar support they’ve been given. The fans reciprocate the love. Their team, so poor and timid against Germany, put in a proper shift tonight. Scott McTominay started and finished a sweeping first-half move, a goal which was only cancelled out by a moment of genius from Xherdan Shaqiri. Zeki Amdouni should have won it for Switzerland in the last minute of regulation time, it’s true, and yet it’s difficult to argue against Scotland deserving at least a share of the spoils. They played front-foot football in the second half, and while a winner was beyond them, they’ve secured a precious point that means the dream of reaching the knockout stage of an international tournament for the very first time is still a live one. Look!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | Scotland | 2 | -4 | 1 |
| 4 | Hungary | 2 | -4 | 0 |
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FULL TIME: Scotland 1-1 Switzerland
The whistle goes, and Steve Clarke gives a small punch of the air. Scotland have responded well to their opening-night mishap, and are still very much alive in Group A!
90 min +3: A long ball down the middle is headed on by Amdouni, with the hope of releasing Embolo. Gunn comes to the edge of his box to claim, but only after half-slipping en route, and giving everyone in Scotland palpitations.
90 min +2: McGregor sends a diagonal ball towards Robertson, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Robertson heads cleverly across goal to tee up Shankland … but Akanji arrives just in time to clear! What an intervention! Shankland was preparing to walk that in!
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90 min: Rieder whips it to the far stick. Amdouni meets it, six yards out, and has to score … but flashes his header wide left! What a huge miss! Scotland then replace Adams and McGinn with Shankland and Christie. There will be four bonus minutes.
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89 min: Robertson carelessly – and needlessly – skittles Rieder out on the Swiss right. A chance for Switzerland to send a free kick into the mixer. Everyone lines up on the edge of the box, and …
87 min: Hendry has a speculative look from distance but it’s easy for Sommer.
86 min: Widmer and Ndoye are replaced by Amdouni and Stergiou.
85 min: Sierro clips Adams late and goes into the book.
84 min: Whatever happens here, Scotland have given it a good go. Especially in this second half. They’ve been the more proactive side since the restart.
82 min: … and now, for a second, Scotland were banished to the slough of despond! A simple ball down the middle and Embolo is clear! He draws Gunn and elegantly dinks home, but the flag goes up immediately for offside, and replays show it was clearly the right decision. File this one under Rollercoaster of Emotion in your cliché cupboard.
81 min: McTominay celebrates that news by nearly scoring a second! He starts an attack with a power dribble down the middle, then after some good work by Robertson on the left, and a knock back by Ralston from the right, shapes like Zidane in the 2002 Champions League final to high-kick a shot goalwards. Blocked. By Adams! For a second, Scotland were permitted to dream.
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80 min: Uefa have officially awarded Scotland’s opener to Scott McTominay. Common sense prevails, though spare a thought for poor old Own Goal, who is no longer Scotland’s all-time leading scorer at European Championship finals.
79 min: Gilmour is replaced by Kenny McLean.
78 min: Ndoye dribbles infield from the left, burning off Ralston with ease. He enters the box and shoots wildly over the bar from a not particularly tight angle. That was a decent opportunity he’d carved out for himself, and he should have done better with it, working Gunn at the very least.
76 min: Scotland are pressing forward, looking for the winner they need more than the Swiss. McKenna wins a corner on the left. That leads to some head tennis. Gilmour goes down having clashed with Widmer but it was six of one, etc., so there’s no penalty, and nor should there be. Eventually McKenna fouls Embolo and the pressure on the Swiss is released.
75 min: Switzerland make a double change, replacing Freuler and Vargas with Sierro and Rieder.
74 min: … but McGinn’s the victim now as Freuler clatters him out on the left flank. The free kick’s met by McKenna, who heads harmlessly over.
72 min: McGinn arrives a week late on Schar and sends his man spinning high into the air like a cheerleader’s baton. He’s always going to get booked for a comedic turn like that.
70 min: … and now the Hampden sigh as Robertson fails to beat the first man.
69 min: McGinn and Gilmour combine to find Ralston in a little bit of space down the right. Ralston attempts to cross but will settle for a corner. The Hampden roar is heard in Cologne as Robertson trots across to take. “If McTominay gets an assist, he’ll have what Canadians call a Gordie Howe hat trick,” reports Liz White. “A goal, a fight (or yellow card), and an assist.”
68 min: McKenna is booked for some cynical wrestling with Embolo. Both had clumps of each other’s shirt, but with Embolo driving forward – or at least attempting to – he was always likely to get the benefit of the decision.
67 min: Robertson takes the free kick. He whips it into the mixer. Deliciously so. Hanley outmuscles Schar six yards out, and aims a header towards the bottom left. But it twangs off the upright and somehow evades everyone as it rebounds through a crowded six-yard box! Scotland so close! And so unlucky!
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65 min: Gilmour strides into space down the middle of the park and takes a whack from distance. Akanji blocks the piledriver. But Scotland come again, and McTominay is skittled just to the right of the box by Akanji. Free kick in a dangerous position.
64 min: Vargas has the measure of Ralston. He cuts in from the left and looks for the top right. High and wide, but not by too much. The Swiss looking the more likely.
62 min: As Tierney was being stretchered off, Steve Clarke went over and gave him an avuncular pat on the head. Tierney wore the look of a man who knows the injury isn’t good. Hopefully we’ll get a pleasant surprise, and it isn’t as as bad as it looks. But that may be clutching at straws.
61 min: While Scotland were dealing with that, Switzerland were replacing their goalscorer Shaqiri with the dangerous Breel Embolo.
60 min: In fact it was Tierney who Ndoye shrugged off, and he goes down in a heap, immediately signalling for help. He’s done his hamstring and will be replaced by Scott McKenna. He’s stretchered off, and that’s almost certainly his Euro 2024 over.
58 min: A simple long ball down the middle nearly does for Scotland. Ndoye spins Hendry with ease and aims a low drive towards the bottom left. Gunn turns the ball around the post. So close.
Updated
56 min: Vargas has a dig from 25 yards. Easy for Gunn. Scotland haven’t achieved much since the restart, and so their fans holler the loudest rendition of Flower of Scotland since the pre-match niceties.
55 min: Ralston thinks he’s been hauled down by Ndoye, but he hasn’t, not really, and in falling backwards concedes a soft corner. Ndoye gives the referee the thumbs up. Thankfully for Scotland, nothing comes of the resulting set piece.
53 min: Both sets of fans are giving it plenty. So are the players, but it’s to the detriment of quality at the moment.
51 min: McGinn gives Akanji the Harry Kane mid-air nudge, and the Swiss player falls on his back. He stays down, but there’s no whistle. Scotland play on, and eventually the referee stops play, mid-attack. Akanji is thankfully fine, but Scotland are incensed, and McTominay is booked for getting right up in the referee’s grid.
49 min: McGinn attempts to spin Schar down the inside-left channel and is cynically hauled back. The Swiss defender is fortunate to escape a booking, but it’s a free kick. Scotland load the box, but Robertson flaps a dismal delivery straight into the first man. What a waste.
Updated
47 min: McTominay heads the corner clear, but Vargas immediately wins another. Shaqiri plays this one short, then crosses, and Hendry heads over his own bar, but it won’t be a third corner of the sequence because the flag pops up for offside.
46 min: Widmer probes down the right and wins Switzerland their sixth corner of the match. Shaqiri to take.
Updated
Switzerland get the second half underway. No changes. “The good news for Scotland is that they have played well below their capability and the score is even,” writes Kári Tulinius. “The bad news is that they have barely shown glimmers of their quality so far this tournament. Steve Clarke has some motivating to do.”
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HALF TIME: Scotland 1-1 Switzerland
Scotland led for just 13 minutes. But what a time it was to be alive. Steve Clarke’s side have held their own against their more accomplished opponents.
45 min +2: A diminuendo end to the half.
45 min: There will be three added minutes.
44 min: Tell you what, Ndoye wasn’t offside by much before finding the net back then. At first glance he looked well off as he took down Akanji’s header, but Hendry was sitting deep in the middle. An inch or two saved Scotland, nothing more. But then, offside is offside.
42 min: Ndoye probes down the left and cuts back for Xhaka, who looks first time for the top-right corner. Gunn extends to push the shot away from danger.
41 min: McTominay hits it long. Adams rises at the far stick but can’t get anything meaningful on the ball. Sommer gathers.
40 min: Tierney looks long for Robertson down the left. Akanji is forced to knock out for a corner. It’ll be Scotland’s third of the match.
38 min: In it goes. Hendry wins a header but the whistle goes to relieve the pressure on the Swiss. Too much pushing and shoving.
37 min: Some sheer persistence from Adams annoys Rodriguez enough into shipping possession. Then Freuler bowls him over from behind, and this is a free kick 30 yards out, off to the right. McTominay to swing it into the mixer.
36 min: Scotland have settled a bit. A few passes in the midfield. Hey, it’s all relative. And on that subject, here’s Simon McMahon: “Forget the single malts, I think I might need a double malt before half time, Scott. And I’ve a feeling I’ll be consuming Alan Partridge-esque quantities of Toblerone before the end.”
34 min: Gilmour attempts to power past Xhaka but is bowled over. He wants the free kick, but he’s not getting one. “Congrats to Scotland’s goal machine,” begins Peter Oh. “With so many young whippersnappers dominating attention these days, it’s good to see an OG get some love.”
33 min: Scotland half clear the corner. Akanji heads it back in. Ndoye picks up possession and rounds Gunn, who is on walkabout, before hooking into the unguarded net. But the flag pops up for offside. Correctly, too, and there might have been a hand used also. For a second, though Scottish hearts were in mouths.
Updated
32 min: Vargas drives at the Scottish defence down the inside-left channel. He feeds Ndoye on the overlap. Ndoye chops across McGregor before curling towards the top right. Gunn sticks out a strong arm to turn around the post for a corner. And from that …
Updated
31 min: Gilmour starts off on a run down the right touchline and is unceremoniously upended by a sliding Rodriguez, who goes into the book.
30 min: Vargas gets in down the left and crosses low for Ndoye. McTominay reads the danger, intercepts, then turns calmly to play out from the back. Scotland look slightly shaken after conceding the equaliser, so hopefully that’s calmed them down a little.
28 min: It’s fair to say that had been coming. The Swiss had won a series of corners, and seconds before the goal, a caption flashed up announcing that they’d enjoyed 72 percent of possession to date. It’s a wonderful response to falling behind by the Swiss, and their tails are now up, Widmer aiming a rising shot at the top-right corner. It’s not far wide and only inches too high.
GOAL! Scotland 1-1 Switzerland (Shaqiri 26)
Yet another long-range screamer at Euro 2024! Ralston plays a blind pass infield from the Scottish right flank. Bad idea. Shaqiri meets it on the left-hand edge of the Scotland D and hits it first time, an inswinging curler that plants into the top-left corner, giving Gunn no chance! What a goal that was! But what a mistake by Ralston.
Updated
24 min: Schar slips a cute pass down the inside-right channel to nearly release Widmer. Robertson slides in to clear, and the flag goes up anyway, but the Swiss are beginning to boss this match, despite the scoreline. “I think I still had goose bumps after watching Flower of Scotland when that goal went in,” writes Brad McMillan. “As 1,055 people said before me on Twitter, it made me proud to be Scottish, and I’m English!”
22 min: Switzerland are on top right now. Yet another corner conceded as Widmer barrels down the right, nearly getting past Robertson. Hanley deals with this one, but Scotland can’t keep conceding set pieces like this, surely.
21 min: Ralston is fine to continue after some patching up.
19 min: Now then, Uefa have awarded Fabian Schär the own goal. That’s ludicrous. McTominay’s shot was on target, and while Schar took a wild swipe at clearing it, punting it backwards and into his own net, he only did so in attempting to stop a goalbound shot. So naw. However, as things stand, Scotland’s leading all-time scorer in European Championship finals is officially Own Goal (2).
18 min: Vargas makes some good ground down the left and his low fizzing shot-cum-cross is deflected into the side netting by Robertson. Corner. Vargas takes, and Ralston takes a whack in clearing it. Play stops.
16 min: McTominay heads this one clear as well. But there’s to be no counter, as Rodriguez has a whack from distance. Always wide right.
15 min: If anyone was going to score for Scotland, it was surely their qualification goal machine Scott McTominay. He started the move as well by clearing the corner. Wow. Now then, can lightning strike twice, because Tierney has just replicated Hendry’s error just before the goal, clumping carelessly wide right of his own goal. Another Swiss corner coming up.
GOAL! Scotland 1-0 Switzerland (McTominay 13)
… Scotland break upfield. McTominay’s header clears the Swiss corner. Robertson drives down the inside-left channel and slips in McGregor on the overlap. McGregor enters the box and puts on the brakes. He pulls back for McTominay, on the left-hand edge of the D. He shoots. The ball takes a huge deflection off Schar, who was attempting to boot clear, only to shank into the top-left corner. But that’s McTominay’s goal!
Updated
12 min: Hendry shanks a backpass wide right of goal for a Switzerland corner. Extremely careless. And from the corner …
11 min: It’s all a bit scrappy at the moment. First Gilmour passes the ball out of play near his own box, then Vargas wastes the opportunity to put pressure on Scotland by carelessly running it out for a throw himself. Onwards and upwards.
9 min: A speculative ball down the Swiss right. Hanley ushers it out of play under pressure from Widmer, only to fall on the ball as it crosses the byline. It should be a corner, but neither referee nor linesman spots the error and Scotland get away with it. Goal kick.
8 min: Switzerland get their foot on the ball for the first time since the kick-off. Some patient passing. But then Shaqiri ships possession to McTominay, who attempts to slip Adams clear down the middle. Rodriguez slides in to intercept.
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6 min: Hanley’s loose pass out from the back is pounced on by Vargas, but the Swiss miscontrols and what looked like a chance to launch a dangerous counter is gone. “My bet’s on Widmer to join that illustrious scoring list,” writes Phil West, a crack you can parse in more than one way.
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4 min: McTominay whips this one higher, but it’s an easy pick for Sommer in the Swiss goal. A decent front-foot start by the Scots, though. Exactly what they need in the wake of that cowrin, tim’rous performance against Germany.
3 min: McTominay hits it flat and can’t beat the first man, falling over as he does so, putting the tin lid on it. But the ball sails out for a throw, which Tierney launches long. Adams and Robertson cause enough hassle in the box to win another corner. McTominay to take this one, too.
2 min: Robertson takes a quick throw down the left flank and McGinn wins a corner off Akanji. McTominay to take.
1 min: Almost immediately, a footrace down the Swiss left between Ndoye and Tierney. The Scottish defender wins this one, but only just, and only because he’s wily enough to draw a foul. This could be a battle to watch.
Scotland get the ball rolling. What an atmosphere! It’s not quite at Turkey-Georgia levels, but it’s something all right.
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The teams are out! Scotland in their famous dark blue, Switzerland in second-choice white. The national anthems are belted out: hymns to radiant morning skies growing red, of fighting for your wee bit hill and glen and sending folk homeward tae think again. The latter positively ringing around the Müngersdorfer Stadion. Marvellous! “On most days a single malt will win over a slab of Toblerone,” notes Krishna Moorthy, pouring everyone a 43.8%ABV drop of hope. We’ll be off in a minute.
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Pennant watch. Here are the commemorative trinkets Andrew Robertson and Granit Xhaka will be handing over before kick-off. Have to say, without any bias, the Scottish one is a thing of timeless grace and beauty …
… whereas the Swiss effort has a real quickly-cobbled-together, will-this-do vibe. The worry is, of course, that we’ll be using exactly the same phrases to describe the teams later, just not necessarily assigned to the same countries. Anyway, good luck everyone.
Steve Clarke talks to the BBC. “It was always our intention to start Billy Gilmour in this game, and that’s why he starts … the only difference between any other games is it’s a Friday-Wednesday build-up as opposed to normally Saturday-Wednesday … that’s all! … we do the same things … work the same way … tonight hopefully you’ll see the real Scotland on the pitch … we have to play better … we have to do better … we believe if we play to the best of our abilities we’ll get something from the game.”
Here is the complete unabridged all-time list of goalscorers for Scotland at the European Championship finals. It’s probably time something was done about this.
Paul McStay (v Commonwealth of Independent States, Euro 92)
Brian McClair (v Commonwealth of Independent States, Euro 92)
Gary McAllister (v Commonwealth of Independent States, Euro 92)
Ally McCoist (v Switzerland, Euro 96)
Callum McGregor (v Croatia, Euro 2020)
Antonio Rudiger (v Scotland, Euro 2024)
The other Group A game finished in a 2-0 win for hosts Germany over Hungary. Let Barry Glendenning take you on a trip …
… and all of that means Germany have qualified for the knockout phase. The Swiss can join them tonight with a win, though a draw would almost certainly prove to be enough to see them through when it all comes down, one way or another. Scotland won’t be out if they lose tonight, but they’d be seriously pushing their luck, especially if their goal difference takes another hammering, compromising any chances of squeaking through with one of the best third-placed finishes. However if they can get something, anything, from tonight’s game, they’ll go into Sunday night’s showdown with the Hungarians still brimful of hope.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Hungary | 2 | -4 | 0 |
| 4 | Scotland | 1 | -4 | 0 |
The history books don’t give us too much of a hint about what may happen tonight. Alternatively, they can tell you whatever you want to hear. Scotland and Switzerland haven’t met for 18 years, since the Swiss won a Hampden Park friendly 3-1 in 2006. But the last time the teams met competitively, at Villa Park during Euro 96, Ally McCoist’s 37th-minute piledriver proved decisive. It wasn’t enough to get the Scots out of the group, of course; it still stands as the last winner scored by Scotland at any tournament (and much as we’d like to, we just can’t count the 2006 Kirin Cup). So it’s swings and roundabouts … even when it comes down to the broader historical sweep, with Scotland winning five of their first six fixtures against Switzerland (between 1931 and 1976) but only winning two of the subsequent eight (losing three). But whichever way you spin it, one thing is true: at least there’s no heavy baggage here.
Scotland make two changes to the side that started the 5-1 opening-night capitulation against Germany. One of them is enforced: Grant Hanley comes in at the back for the suspended Ryan Porteous. The other is tactical: Billy Gilmour replaces Ryan Christie to bolster the midfield.
Switzerland make one change to their starting XI in the wake of their 3-1 win over Hungary. The Powercube is back: Xherdan Shaqiri replaces Kwadwo Duah in attack.
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The teams
Scotland: Gunn, Hendry, Hanley, Tierney, Ralston, Gilmour, McGregor, Robertson, McTominay, Adams, McGinn.
Subs: Shankland, Christie, Kelly, Cooper, Armstrong, Morgan, Conway, Jack, Clark, McCrorie, McLean, Taylor, Forrest, McKenna.
Switzerland: Sommer, Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez, Widmer, Freuler, Xhaka, Aebischer, Shaqiri, Vargas, Ndoye.
Subs: Stergiou, Elvedi, Embolo, Okafor, Steffen, Mvogo, Zesiger, Sierro, Duah, Kobel, Jashari, Amdouni, Rieder.
Referee: Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia).
🔢 Team news is in.
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) June 19, 2024
Let’s go.#SCOSWI | #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/Wr3fyXLS4H
Aufstellung | Composition | Formazione
— 🇨🇭 Nati (@nati_sfv_asf) June 19, 2024
🕘 📺 SRF 2, RTS 2, RSI La 2
ℹ️ Important Fan-Infos: https://t.co/AeHvUVv9wn#natimiteuch #lanatiavecvous #lanaticonvoi #lanaticunvus #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/ysfmIAzFF2
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Preamble
Well, that first game didn’t go to plan. Steve Clarke and his men begin their quest to make amends at 8pm BST. It’s on.
