Euro 2004, Part 2
Euro 2004, Part 2
Following Scotland’s unlucky defeat to Spain in their first game of Euro 2004, the post-mortem inevitably focussed mainly on the two refereeing decisions that had gone against them, both of which had, just, proven incorrect. It had been a hard defeat to take, and Walter Smith’s side would have to get over it quickly if they were to stand a chance of reaching a second knockout stage in a row.
The only real consolation for Scotland fans was that England had lost their opening game too, and probably in an even more unfortunate way than they had, going down to two late France goals. Except they still had two ‘easier’ games to come, whereas Scotland now faced a tough game against hosts Portugal, who would almost certainly be looking to avenge the shock loss to Greece in their first game.
The pressure to get a result in the game increased hugely when the other group game that day, between the Greeks and the Spanish, ended 1-all, putting them both on four points, which meant Scotland would have to win the Portugal game to stand a chance. A draw and a win over Greece wouldn’t be enough, as the loss to Spain meant La Roja would go through on head to head record if they tied.
The game would be at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz. Like the first game, the Tartan Army were very much outnumbered by the huge home contingent the hosts had with them. After the shock and disappointment of the first game, they and the team seemed determined not to have a repeat of that. Scotland really would be up against it for this one.
Smith had named an unchanged Starting XI for the match, which many questioned, but it did have some logic to it, when you consider that Scotland had played well in that first game and had only lost due to two goals being wrongly disallowed. But, on the other hand, given the tough challenge they were about to take on, some fresh legs might’ve been a wiser idea…
Things went Portugal’s way at first; cheered on by the huge home support, the hosts surged forwards from the off, and Rab Douglas was already being called on to keep their attack at bay. After some good saves, he was caught out by a corner in just the seventh minute, as the ball landed straight on the head of Maniche, who caught him out completely and calmly slotted in home. 1-0 Portugal.
Already, it looked like being a long night for the Scots. Buoyed by this early breakthrough, Portugal kept their feet on the pedal and laid barrage to the Scotland goal. Only some wasteful finishing and some excellent saves from Douglas kept them out.
Scotland rarely managed to get the ball forwards threateningly in the first half. One of their few real chances came when Miller received a solid through ball from Lambert, but his shot was at an awkward angle, and so he had little choice but to square it to McFadden, whose shot was easily saved by Ricardo.
Half time came, and Scotland had done well to keep the score at just 1-0. If they could carry on withstanding the waves of Portuguese attack, they still had half a chance.
But, as the second half kicked off, it was more of the same: Portugal surging forward in droves, but wastefulness on their part and Douglas’s firm hands were keeping them out. Yet, you just felt like it wouldn’t be long before they’d get the second goal they needed to kill the game off.
Scotland, though, were being resolute, to be fair to them, and were holding their own and keeping themselves in the game. Yet their attacking opportunities were relatively few. On one occasion, Fletcher skimmed a hopeful ball towards Miller in the box, but Ricardo Carvalho managed to slip in and take it off him. There were shouts for a penalty, but they were more in hope than expectation; it had been a fair challenge.
On another occasion, Lambert caught the ball in midfield, and managed to nick it sideways to Ferguson, who charged forwards and looped it upfield towards Paul Dickov, on as a second half sub. Dickov caught the ball awkwardly, and it looked like it would be simple for Carvalho to take it off him again.
Instead, he missed his tackle completely, and, unable to believe his luck, Dickov launched it goalwards and caught Ricardo out completely! Completely out of nowhere, Scotland were level!
Portugal were shell shocked by the mistake and, all of a sudden, Scotland found a new lease of life and started to get forward more freely again. McFadden managed to launch another goalward strike, but Ricardo managed to force it onto the post and behind for a corner, which ultimately came to nothing.
After that spurt was over, though, Portugal managed to regain control of the game and started dominating possession again. Scotland, though, were defending well and just about managing to keep their faint chances alive.
That was, until the final regular minute of the game, when Cristiano Ronaldo gave Naysmith the slip on the wing, and looped it into the box towards Rui Costa, who slotted it past Douglas to break Scotland hearts and surely win the game for the hosts.
And indeed it did. Scotland could do no more. The final whistle blew, and Scotland, despite a valiant effort, were out of Euro 2004.
The final game against Greece four days later, therefore, would be a dead rubber for them, but they were still keen to end the tournament on a positive. Smith made a few changes to the squad for the final game, giving other players a chance and making Lambert captain for his final game for his country.
Dickov started the game up front alongside Gary O’Connor and, in just the second minute, the two combined nicely as Dickov teed up his fellow striker to open the scoring and give Scotland an early lead. McFadden would make it 2-0 about 15 mins later, before Zisis Vryzas pulled one back for Greece just before half-time, a goal which would prove most important.
As the second half began, both teams were attacking well and searching for another goal, though Greece were the ones who really needed it as they still had a chance of going through. But news then came through that Portugal had taken the lead against Spain, which, as things stood, meant Greece would go through on goals scored.
Both them and Scotland would have chances to score in the second half, but none were taken and the game ended 2-1 to Scotland. Smith’s team had ended another tough tournament on a high, but Greece were celebrating too, as the Portugal-Spain game ended 1-0, which put them through as well.
The final table for Group A
There was a great deal of outcry from the Spanish fans, some of whom accused the Scots and the Greeks of playing out a staged result a la the Disgrace of Gijon so that they’d both get what they wanted. Both teams denied this, though, from a Scotland point of view, seeing Spain just go out after that fortuitous win in the first game could be seen as some sort of karmic justice.
Still, what was done was done; both teams were out and Greece would be going through alongside Portugal. In fact, Greece would go on to stun everyone and win the whole tournament, beating the France of Henry and Zidane and the Czech Republic of Nedved and Baros before beating Portugal again in the final.
For the Scotland players and fans watching on from back home though, there was a sense of “that could’ve been us”; indeed, had it not been for those two wrongly disallowed goals in the first round, they’d have gone through at the eventual winners’ expense.
Still, at least Urs Meier had redeemed himself somewhat in their eyes by disallowing that Sol Campbell goal!
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Not to be for Scotland then. At least they went down fighting though. And, like England in OTL and TTL, they can blame it all on Urs Meier!
So, yeah, the rest of the tournament plays out exactly the same as in OTL. This must, therefore, be the first time on this site that Greece's win hasn't been butterflied away!
So, 2006 World Cup qualifying next, an infamously bad campaign for Scotland in OTL; will they fare better here and make it to Germany? We shall find out next week...
