Chapter 102
One Night In Manchester
Prior to the Semi-final clash that was to take place between Scotland and Uruguay, the day before up in Sunderland would be the other and perhaps more hotly contested semi-final between the joint favourites France and Belgium in which it would the former that would win in squeaky 1-0 victory that many felt Les Bleus were lucky to get through and that it should've been that Belgian team to play in the final. Of course, that was not saying that this French team was any good, on the contrary, many still had them down as firm favourites to win the World Cup at Wembley with the next Semi-final with Scotland and Uruguay being nothing more than a foregone battle in which who would end up playing as the bridesmaid in the final which didn't go down well with either set of supporter when they heard that about their respected teams.
That being said, there was much riding on both these teams as with Scotland being the last remaining Home Nation found themselves getting attention from the majority of the British press that would have normally focused their attention on England but with the hosts along with Wales and Ireland both out, Scotland now had to fly the flag for Britain to try and make sure there was a British representative in the final. Yes, the dream of winning the World Cup - or any silverware - at Wembley had always been the dream of every single member of the Tartan Army and while perhaps there was a little regret the the ideal scenario of playing England in the final in rematch of 1966 and 1996 was no longer possible with England having lost out to France before with the Scots enjoying the fact that they had gone further than the Ault Enemy, they were a little uncomfortable of being adopted a the 'British' team to represent the rest of the UK which was something of an alien concept for many of them and some had to wonder if they were to win the World Cup at Wembley, would that fact taint it?
On the other end of the spectrum was Uruguay who in turn had added pressure to reach the final too in which as not only the last remaining South American country left in the tournament but also the last non-European team left, some were hoping that this could be the time in which there would be a South American country lifting the World Cup at long last after many years of European domination. That being said though, Uruguay's run to the final had been something of pure luck in which in both their games with Spain and Croatia, Uruguay had been victorious in two nerve shredding penalty shootouts which had gotten them this far yet despite being marked down as favourites, they were a team that had played two gruelling games both going the distance which meant that they looked to be an exhausted team but never was one to simply underestimate any South American team, mainly one that would fight to the last breath that was one certain Uruguay.
Uruguay fans in Manchester prior to the game with Scotland
Of course, the Scots weren't thinking about how they were going to play against Uruguay but rather trying to get south for a huge game. With a short distance to travel from Scotland to Manchester and not having to worry about passports or visa checks, it wasn't a surprise to see the Tartan Army travel south in their thousands and the sight of many Scots swarming across Manchester did give the locals memories of when - by a strange coincidence nearly exactly ten years ago - Rangers fans came down - all one hundred and fifty thousand of them - to see their side play in the UEFA cup final in 2008 in pretty drab. It might've not been the best memories for the Manchester police in which following Rangers' victory, some of their supports got just had one too many that nearly caused a riot. Despite the Tartan Army's reputation being for the most part being sound, the sight of many police forces nearby did show that no one was taking any chances.
Of the one hundred and seventy thousand strong Scots here in Manchester, only fifty thousand had tickets for the semi final in Old Trafford, eleven of them would be playing and one of them, Gordon Strachan, had his own quite literally painful memories as those who remember history in which during the 1986 World Cup, Strachan was involved in a vicious tackle from Jose Baitista in which saw the Uruguayan player sent off within the first minute of the game and still is the fastest sending off in World Cup history. Though Scotland would get the last laugh to win and go through to the next round, the game was certainly one of the more infamous games that Scotland played in and interestingly encounters with Scotland and Uruguay were rare with their first meeting being in 1950 and on that occasion the South Americans would inflect the Scots their first World Cup defeat as they would eventual win the World Cup, however the Scots would get revenge four years later and knock the champions out. A rematch between these two small football mad nations had been a long time coming.
As well as the healthy amount of Scots that had descended on Manchester they were joined by many Scots living in Manchester with one of them being more famous than most, Sir Alex Ferguson. Like Strachan he had been there when Scotland last played Uruguay as the manager and had found the game to be a right horrid affair and through this World Cup, he had been trying to get support from the local population to get behind the Scots and make it the final; not the first time he had done it at Euro '96 when the Scots coincidently had also played their semi final here and won. Would lightning strike in the same place twice? From the VIP seats, Ferguson sat among various famous faces and watched Old Trafford bathed in blue from all around and feeling a sense of pride that, if all going well, his country would be playing in a second World Cup final since 1966 and the historic gravity of the situation was not lost on the traveling hordes of the Tartan Army.
Just a small section of the mass amount of Scotland fans in Old Trafford awaiting for the game to begin
It would be an electric atmosphere as both sides emerged from the tunnel with the South American side dressed in their usual colours of light blue shirts and black shorts while the Scots would be playing in their away kit of yellow and dark blue, however many Scots weren't so keen on that away kit due to the fact the only game they had lost was when playing in that kit, then again it was Belgium and the only team to defeat them was that French team who had only sneaked past them. That said, there was the worry that whoever lost the game would play the Belgians in Liverpool for the third place play-off in which the Scots hoped that it wouldn't be a rematch with them. After a emotional rendition of both anthems being sung and the usual pre-match pictures being taken, the referee blew his whistle and the game began with the Scots showing some early promise by keeping the ball for a lot of the game and while they may had not been aiming for the target much to everyone's surprise, it would appear that the idea was to frustrate the Uruguayans and make them come at them in which would make them make a mistake and thus maybe a chance for Scotland to take the advantage.
After ten minutes of the first half, the game hadn't exactly gone off with a bang like when they last met and looked quite a tight affair in which no one wanted to screw up. The best chance of the game so far would fall to Uruguay in the sixteenth minute when Stuauni nearly scored from a corner in which he headed the ball to the top left of the goal but only managed succeeded in hitting the corner post in which the ball bounced over to Andy Robertson who quickly booted the ball up the field to get it away. Rather than fight back from that, Scotland seemed to cut a frustrated side in which Uruguay seemed to notice this and began to push the Scots back into their area and it was here that several challenges began to take place with a bad one coming in the twentieth minute when Graeme Shinnie made a tackle on Suárez - known to many as a true pantomime villain in the eyes of the Tartan Army and who had even brought along some disparaging banners calling the Uruguayan player 'Bugs Bunny' due to his infamous teeth - that sent the Uruguayan player flying and it looked to be a bad one that could've been a red card type challenge. Instead the referee would bring out a yellow card much to everyone's surprise and the Uruguay players felt some collusion was going on with the referee being Argentine...
However, some karma would come for Uruguay (if you did think of that) in the twenty-seventh minute when after a fairly tense period, Scotland captain Scott Brown would make a sliding tackle on Torreira which while looked to be a clean challenge, he landed in a bad way which saw the captain on the floor in pain and despite efforts from the Scottish medical team, it was clear that he couldn't play and, even if Scotland did make the final, he would play no part in the rest of the game as he was helped off limping all the way as Kenny McLean had to make a sudden change with the captain's armband going to Andy Robertson. Unknown to everyone then that even if Scotland were going to make the final, it would Scott Brown's final appearance in a Scotland shirt as his injury looked to be quite a bad one. What would Scotland do now?
A long day ahead, two Scotland players during the semi final with Uruguay, note the away kit Scotland are playing in
There wasn't really anything to note in the first half other than the fact that both seemed more interested in cancelling each other out and many watching had to wonder when the goals would start flying in. The only thing that could be considered a highlight was the sound being heard of both sets of supporters trying to make themselves heard more and the Uruguayans were putting up a good show despite being outnumbered by the swarms of Scots that had taken many parts of the stadium. It would be in the thirty-fifth minute than Scotland's chance came in which Andy Robertson had the ball and crossed it over towards John McGinn who made a darting run towards the box and many in the stadium rose thinking something big was about to happen and McGinn would pass the ball over towards Ryan Fraser who found himself in a good area and slammed the ball into the top right corner and the stretched arms of Muslera couldn't keep the ball out and Scotland were 1-0 up.
Old Trafford erupted and likely across Scotland similar reactions would have happened the moment that goal went in and while the game might had been something of a tense affair, The Scots were just happy to be in front and the Uruguay players looked stunned at what had happened. The game was going in favour of the Scots in which just six minutes later, Scotland tried again which another shot with Steven Naismith trying to score but unlike Fraser's shot which went on target, Naismith only succeeded in send the ball over the bar and out for a goal kick. The first nearly ended though in dramatic fashion when right into the last minute of three minutes of added time, Suárez nearly scored a dramatic last ditch volley from forty yards out and it came so close to going in but in the end hit the crossbar.
It would be the last kick of the first half and both sides went off with different emotions in which the Scottish players were without question the more happier and the Uruguay players were looking the more angry that they had let the Scots take the lead and the fact the majority of the crowd was rooting for the Scots must of felt like a home game for a host nation rather than anything which they likely would have felt the Scots had an unfair advantage that was looking to be tougher for them now that Uruguay was behind. In truth other than the goal, it had been a pretty poor game of football and many hoped the second half would be an improvement though as it was however as things stood, Scotland were just another forty-five minutes away from reaching the promise land of a World Cup final...
Stuauni during the game with Scotland
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Both manager had a lot to say to their respected teams during the break and the main goal was, quite literally, get a goal soon as possible - one side to kill the game off for the good and the other to try and get back in the game and there was no prizes as to guesses who each these were aimed at. Indeed, this seemed to have an effect as both sides went out there with the start of the match being quite an dramatic end-to-end game which despite there being no goals being scored it was looking to be a more exciting half of football and it would be the South American side who nearly had the chance to claim first blood after just two minutes of play into the second half when Suarez curled the ball in from the left but Allan McGregor would get on the ball first and denied the Uruguayan player a goal.
It would then be in the fifty-second minute that the South Americans would make their first changed with Stuani coming off to be replaced by Maxi Gomez as what would seemed like a tacit change for them. The game enter then something of a tedious period some four minutes later in which no one seemed to be having a chance to get something to find the game's second goal that could ultimately decide the match. As it would become more apparent however, Scotland looked as though they seemed to think trying not to lose was more important than getting that vital second and the jeers that followed a bad pass that went off the field for a throw in pretty much described the scene as Uruguay were starting to smell blood in the water.
It was turning into a truly nerve shredding and ropey game for the Scots as they were looking more and more like a deer in the headlights while Uruguay looked like a side that was exhausted following their two penalty shoot out victorious yet the latter however seemed to be picking up some power from somewhere and as the game went on, seemed to look more fresher than the Scots and it was hard to tell who was the team that had played two games of extra-time until this point. There was one penalty call in the sixty-fourth minute which Scotland felt that they should've got after what looked like a tackle on Matt Phillips by Gimenez which the referee instead didn't think much of it much to the Scots' annoyance. As the game rolled into the final thirty minutes, some of the nervous Scotland fans were fearing that Uruguay were going to score sooner than later unless Scotland were to find the back of the net now though honestly that looked liked a longshot at this point.
Fraser - the goal scorer - during the game with Uruguay
It did become noticeable that Old Trafford had started to sound more subdued the longer the score remained at 1-0 as it was a tense game for both set of supporters in which the clock seemed to tick slowly down if you were Scottish yet seemed to be ticking like no tomorrow if you were Uruguayan. It seemed there would be more painful memories with games involving Scotland and Uruguay from past games but not how some would've thought of it. Then finally in the seventy-third minute there would be a free kick for Uruguay with Suárez stepping up to take it some thirty yards away from the box. He would send it over the wall of Scottish players and looked like it was curling into the top left corner of the net and the noise from the South American faithful increased when they saw Allan McGregor failing to get his hands on it and much to his and much of the Tartan Army's horror, the ball ended up into the net and the Uruguayan supporters roared in delight that finally they had found the back of the net thanks to that man who the Scotland fans had no real love for.
1-1 it was and in all honesty, it had felt that a Uruguay goal had been coming for a long time by this point and Scotland could blame no one but themselves for failing to add to their lead. That said though, the equaliser did seem to wake up Scotland in which they would get a chance in the seventy-eighth minute when Scotland had won a corner and Naismith got his head on the ball from the resulting corner kick but his ball whack on the post and bounced out to go out for a goal kick. The goalposts for both teams seemed to be winning the man of the match awards the way this semi was going. To put it bluntly after that missed shot, neither side managed to find the back of the net and the full ninety minutes would come to an end and now both sides were to take part in more extra-time and there was a feeling that Uruguay's tails were up to go all the way...
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If one was to say that if whoever got to the final and played like this would argue that not only neither side had a chance but that they might as well hand the trophy to France. That was roughly what a furious Strachan had berated his players as he pulled them in for a team talk as he had no intention of seeing a smug Uruguay team winning here tonight as likely memories of his bad encounter with Uruguay in 1986 was likely fanning the flames for Scotland to put the South Americans out of the tournament. They simply had to win here if they wanted to be part of history, but speaking of which was the weight of history starting to weigh on their shoulders? This time, the Scotland team went out there and starting playing like they had nothing to lose and even though it made their defence look weak, they were willing to risk that to get a goal.
One brave Scotland fan among a bunch of Uruguayan supporters
This risk would nearly backfire when in the ninety-seventh minute, Rodriguez would nearly take the lead by trying to score from a volley in which McGregor made a stunning save to deny Uruguay taking the lad. That moment would be the time in which Scotland finally seemed to fire on all cylinders as now Uruguay seemed to look frustrated and tired that this game had not been put to death and the men in yellow began pushing Uruguay back and the Tartan Army found their voice again roaring their team forward there was suddenly a strange sense of positivity in the air that dreams of Wembley were not the flights of fantasy. Despite their sudden positive play coming to nothing at the end of the first half of extra-time, the Scots who had a spring in their step knowing that if they kept this up then surely the game would be in their hands and thankfully for them, this play would carry on in the second period which only made hope in the hearts of many of the Scots that surely it was all or nothing. There would be some cruel joy in the one-hundred and ninth minute of the game in which Suárez would get a booking following a squabble involving him and McGregor over what seemed like a strange foul in which while McGregor had made a clean save, the hot-headed Uruguayan player thought otherwise but was shown yellow for causing the game to be delayed and the Scottish fans to revel in the moment.
The game then became a end-to-end encounter in which to say this was nail biting would be an understatement as there was perhaps by this point no nails left for anyone in Old Trafford. However, what happened next right into the dying moments of the game would be one of the most incredible endings for a World Cup match ever. With three minutes of injury time left and penalties liking looming, Scotland would win a free kick nearby the box in which would be floated in and a mad scramble followed in which the ball would be cleared away by Uruguay yet not for long in which the ball would end up on the feet of Andy Robertson who saw a gap opening up in the Uruguay defence decided to make a run up into the box to try and make a last ditch attempt at scoring and many of the Tartan Army held their breath thinking that this could be the moment but as he had made it into the box and was about to let one rip, he would be tugged back by the hand of Suarez who held onto Robertson's collar and dragged him to the ground in a horrendously last ditch attempt to stop the Scottish player yet what he had done was commit the most blatant foul ever at a World Cup and VAR was not needed as the Tartan Army roared for action and it was delivered.
Despite laughably trying to plead innocence, Suarez would see a red card and was given his marching orders and left in tears but worse was to follow for his country in which as the action had taken place inside the box it led for one thing only...penalty for Scotland! The Tartan Army roared in delight and some even passing out at the gravity of the situation that this surely was going to be the moment that Scotland would score the goal that would send them through. The man to take this vital penalty would be the team's penalty taker Robert Snodgrass who had not only the chance to write his name in Scottish football folklore but send his nation through to Wembley for the final yet it might have been the nerves getting to him as at the crucial moment, the weight of history seemed to be pressing down on his shoulders...
Suarez walking off in tears following his red card
Everyone in Scotland seemed to be willing Snodgrass on and in truth it did feel like the last kick of the game even though there was about a minute of injury time left even if he was to score. The referee's whistle blew, Snodgrass made his run up to send the ball to the left...and Muslera
saved it! What followed were cries of agony from the Scotland fans and roars of delight from the Uruguay fans in which they had avoided losing the game and to add more insult to injury for the Scots is that Suarez, who had been walking down the field following his red card and in tears, had turned to look to see the penalty and when he saw that it had been saved, he suddenly celebrated wildly and his tears seemed to magically disappear. The whole moment seemed to be a repeat of the infamous match between Uruguay and Ghana in 2010 in which Suarez had been the villain there and now it look as though lightning had struck twice and yet worse was to follow.
Rather than hold the ball for as long as possible, Muslera would waste no time in barking at the rest of the team to quickly get up the field in which in a matter of seconds, he quickly launched the ball up the field in which the crushed Scotland players were caught unaware and had to scramble to try and get the ball back in which Uruguay suddenly went on the counter and Scotland looked woeful at the back. This would lead for Matías Vecino racing up a field that was there for the taking with some Scottish players trying desperately - still in a state of shock from the penalty miss - failed to stop him before Vecino would then slip the ball up towards Stuani who would find himself going one-on-one with McGregor. There was no incredible effort here, just a cheeky dummy move on McGregor to make him fall over in which the Uruguayan forward would simply roll the ball into an empty net which right on the death, gave La Celeste the winning goal that would take them to the final.
Contrast of emotions could be seen for both teams; the Uruguayan players, others from the bench all piled on Vecino with Suarez getting involved in the celebrations while on the other end of the spectrum, the Scottish players were utterly crestfallen. All of them were lying on the ground utterly devastated and unable to move in which the referee had to go as far as to try and convince them to get up so that he could restart the match for the final moments of game time to be played but the Scottish players seemed too numb to carry on. Before anyone knew it then, the final whistle would be blown and Uruguay in the most dramatic of circumstances had reached the final and Scottish hearts were crushed in the most traumatic way possible in which in the most typically Scottish way possible, they had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
A reaction following the winning Uruguay goal that says it all
There would be no Wembley dream for the Tartan Army or any British side in the final for that matter though from grief turned to anger quickly in what would be a rather sorry state of affairs in the aftermath. The Uruguay players were celebrating with their fans yet that man, Suarez, would pour salt in the wounds by running in front of a section of devasted Scottish fans and began placing has hands to his ears as if he was saying 'I can't hear you' and this didn't go unnoticed by many in which some angry Scottish players rushed up to confront him in which some Uruguay players rushed in as well to help their comrade and what can be described as a mob scene of finger pointing, shoving and lots of arguing took place in which the referee pretty much lost control of the end and for Scottish manager Gordon Strachan, the whole scene seemed to bring back memories of the last time they played Uruguay and deep down he knew that despite the Tartan Army always wanting to have no rivals other than say England or Wales to some extent, it was clear that some bad blood was starting to be formed with Uruguay.
Thankfully there were riots in the streets of Manchester following the game though there were isolated incidents of some scuffles between fans though the Tartan Army would all have to make the long journey up the road though many would put their anger on Suarez who they blamed for preventing that shot to happen though even if he hadn't intervened then there is no guaranteed that the goal would have happened anyway but nonetheless, there was a feeling someone had to be blamed for Scotland's downfall and Suarez would be the villain of the piece in which much like with Ghana in 2010, he had become something similar for Scotland in 2018 with even one Scottish newspaper in the wake of the game calling Suarez as 'the most hated man in Scotland more so than any gangster or politician that ever has been'.
There would be some consolation for Scotland however in which a few days later in the final, Uruguay would lose 2-0 to France in which the latter would collect their second World Cup and winning much like how many predicted though the day before, Scotland would end up on the losing side in the third place play-off in a rematch with Belgium by the same score line coincidently enough. Yes, Scotland had gone further than the rest and took some joy that they had gone further than England on their own backyard yet there was a sense of regret that they had missed out on going to Wembley and while it would be unlikely if they could win it, that dream of winning a World Cup at Wembley would remain just a dream. With that though, the 2018 World Cup was over yet Euro 2020 was around the corner and it was going to be a unique tournament to say the least however for perhaps all very different reasons in ways that would seem unthinkable once this World Cup ended....
Final results of the Knockout stage of the 2018 World Cup
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And there you have it...yes, big shock in which there is no Scottish appearance in the 2018 World Cup final here unlike in the old TL in which looking back on that TL, Scotland winning it then does work as 'book end' moment for it being the last chapter yet could be considered ASB no matter how better the Scottish or any British team is here and since we are about to go into new ground that wasn't there in the old TL, it would seem likely right IMO for them to go out in the last four in perhaps a very Scottish way possible as honestly, somethings never change. In case your wondering, the shirt pull incident here is largely based on the moment in the Euro 2020 final which happened with Saka if you remember then and lets face it, who else better to do it that Mr Suarez himself?
So as you can see with the final, the game is pretty much the same as the OTL result with France and Uruguay here with Les Bleus winning the WC here which brings them level with OTL so if you're French, you'll likely be happy that nothing has changed here and let's face it, that French team deserved to win it that year let's be honest. Funny thing with England here is that at this point they have performed better than most of their appearances compared to OTL when here however is a bizarre situation in which they perform worse than OTL 2018 WC (unless you count Euro 2000 ITTL) which is kind of funny when you think about it. So anyway, we have now gotten to the point in which the old TL ended and next we are heading into new ground which will be Euro 2020!
I did think about trying about the Nations League here but honestly I just find that a bit tedious really, maybe I might come back to it later on, so for now we shall go into Euro 2020 and a few differences with not only results but certain teams and stadiums used, can you guess what I might mean by that? Thank you for supporting me to this point and now we move onwards for a brave new world in the next update, until then, catch you all later!