Scotland on Friday emerged from a 0-0 draw against old enemy England with their pride, a point and a chance of making the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time.
After a 23-year wait just to reach an international final, Scotland’s bubble could easily have been burst by Patrik Schick’s stunning 50m strike for the Czech Republic to seal a 2-0 win at Hampden on Monday.
That appeared Scotland’s best shot at points on paper with two of the 2018 World Cup semi-finalists in England and Croatia to come.
Photo: AP
With Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney restored to the defense and an outstanding full international debut from Billy Gilmour, Scotland held the Three Lions at bay with relative ease to raise hopes once more.
“On another night we could’ve came away with more, but we take a point, it keeps us alive,” Scotland captain Andy Robertson said.
“It’s important to use this feeling and the fans being happy into Tuesday and try and use it to get a positive result,” he said.
Manager Steve Clarke rounded on his side’s critics from their opening defeat.
Two slick finishes from the tournament’s top scorer Schick aside, Scotland more than matched the Czechs, and had plenty of chances to have at least salvaged a draw.
“It was a little bit unfair some of the stuff that came our way after Monday’s result, not Monday’s performance,” Clarke said. “The objective tonight was to get something out the game so we could go to the last game with a genuine chance of qualifying out the group, and we’ve done that.”
Victory against Croatia should be enough to take Scotland into the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed sides.
Yet, as many a suffering member of the Tartan Army knows, hope is often what kills Scotland’s chances.
There remain issues for Clarke to solve, most notably up front as they are yet to score on their return to the big international stage.
There is a renewed belief heading to Hampden on Tuesday.
Far from the team that stunned Argentina and England on their way to the World Cup final three years ago, Croatia have so far shown little to scared of at Euro 2020.
Captain Luka Modric criticized his side’s lack of organization in a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic on Friday that also left them with just one point from their opening two games.
Ivan Perisic, 32, and Modric, 35, remain Croatia’s main men, but coach Zlatko Dalic admitted that his side are “struggling” and “need energy.”
By contrast, Scotland’s future looks bright thanks to Gilmour.
Against a plethora of Premier League stars, the 20-year-old walked away with the man-of-the-match award on his first start for his country.
“I’ve said for a long time he’ll be part of the future of Scottish football,” Clarke added. “We know what we’ve got in camp, we’ll try to keep a lid on things and performances like that will do him no harm whatsoever.”
If Gilmour the apprentice can get the better of Modric the master come Tuesday night, Scotland can dream of making more history.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS