This has happened before, you know. Just not to us.
It was only seven years ago, after all, when we were sending working groups and research teams to places like Reykjavik in search of answers to the problems on our own doorstep. While watching on with open mouths as Iceland, Wales and even Northern Ireland took it in turns to achieve the Scottish impossible.
When these relative minnows suddenly started building the kind of momentum in qualifying which made the rest of the world scratch its head and say, “What the freakishness is going on over there?” And here’s the best bit. Tantilisingly, whenever this lightning has struck, these previously unfancied nations have been swept along on such a tidal wave of momentum that it’s washed them straight through into the latter stages of the actual tournament that had been previously way out of their reach. And so now, this really is starting to feel like it might finally be our turn in the queue.
