At least Steve Clarke could point to progress, of sorts. “We scored two goals this time, we only scored one the last time,” said Clarke, as the Scotland manager reflected on another group stage exit from a major tournament. However, it summed up Scotland’s lack of cutting edge at Euro 2024 that the two goals they did score went in off opposition players, in Antonio Rudiger’s own goal and Fabian Schar deflecting Scott McTominay’s shot past his goalkeeper.
If hosts Germany and Euro 2024 will miss the Tartan Army and the atmosphere the travelling fans brought to the tournament, the same cannot be said of Scotland on the pitch. If three games brought one point and an early exit, the same as three years ago at Euro 2020, Scotland can hardly pretend to be hard done by. Their 17 shots at Euro 2024 is the joint-lowest ever recorded in a group stage – only Northern Ireland, in 2016, showed less attacking threat and even they managed what Scotland could not and reached the knockouts.
