2010 World Cup, Part 3
After a rather meh group stage, the 2010 World Cup had improved considerably in the knockout stages, with the match between Argentina and France a memorable high-quality clash (though not necessarily for the right reasons) and the last remaining African representatives Cote D’Ivoire taking European champions Spain all the way to extra time before succumbing 3-1. At the end of it, we had a quarter-final line-up of four European teams and four South American teams, and a draw that ended up pitting one of each against each other.
For Alex McLeish and Scotland, their performances so far had been maybe a notch lower quality than their iconic Euro 2008 run, with their only unarguably good performance being in their famous win over the Germans, which England’s capitulation against Der Mannschaft in the Round of 16 made all the more satisfying! Nonetheless, they were into the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time, and now had the chance to reach a second successive semi-final!
Their opponents were to be Uruguay, who had got off to a false start with a narrow defeat to France, but had recovered well by winning both their other two group matches and then comfortably seen off South Korea. They would be starting the game very much as favourites, but Scotland had developed a habit of winning when not expected to over the past few years…
The match would take place in Johannesburg, in the stadum that, in just over a week’s time, would be hosting the final of the tournament! Whoever won would face a semi-final against the Netherlands, who had beaten Brazil earlier that same day…
Scotland would line-up against La Celeste with a near identical line-up to the win over the USA, save for Steven Caldwell replacing McManus in defence, lining up alongside his brother Gary, and Boyd starting up front with Steven Fletcher on the bench.
The match started slowly at first, with the teams trying to feel each other out, before Uruguay had the first major chance of the game, as Edinson Cavani gave Alan Hutton the slip and fired at Alan McGregor, who made a good palming save. The resulting corner would see Diego Forlan’s header go harmlessly wide.
Scotland’s first real chance came from Naismith, who forced Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera into a good save with a shot from the edge of the box. But, in all honesty, it was a poor quality first half, with both teams sort of cancelling each other out and restricting each other to half chances. Scotland might’ve taken the lead right on the stroke of half time, but Ferguson’s long range shot was just about tipped away by Muslera.
Half time came, and still no goals had come, and both teams looked rather disappointed and frustrated as they trudged off into the dressing room. The fans watching in the stadium and watching at home, who’d been hoping for both teams to be going flat out for a place in the semi-finals, would’ve felt similar; some in the stadium even booed the half time whistle.
None of them expected what was to come next.
McLeish made a half time gamble of bringing on two substitutes, with one Fletcher, Darren, going off, to be replaced by Scott Brown, and the other, Steven, coming on to replaced Boyd. Uruguay had already been forced to make one substitution in the first half, and would make a second just after the match had restarted, so it wasn’t that risky a gamble in that sense…
At first, the second half went very much the same as the first, with both sides attempting to push forward and get a breakthrough, but be restricted by the opposition defence to half chances and pot shots which were easily saved.
Then, ten minutes into the half, that breakthrough came, and not the way McLeish and Scotland would’ve hoped, as Diego Forlan gave both Caldwell brothers the slip and launched a powerful shot that McGregor had no chance at all of saving. It was a sucker punch that Scotland still had time to recover from, but things would now be very much against them…
McLeish would make his final sub, with James Morrison replacing Naismith in the hope of adding some fresh legs to the attack, but Uruguay were now content to sit tight and defend the lead, and try to catch Scotland on the break if they could…
One such opportunity presented itself just before the 70 minute mark, as Scotland lost the ball on the edge of the Uruguay box, and Nicolas Lodeiro received the ball on the wing, and the break was on. He attempted to thread the ball forwards to Luis Suarez, but just as he was about the receive the ball, Scott Brown slid in and wiped him out.
The Ajax man furiously got to his feet and angrily confronted Brown, pushing him backwards and so nearly sending onto his backside. The Celtic man responded in kind, and before anyone knew it, the two were at loggerheads!
Their teammates, including both keepers, desperately tried to break them up, but both had to be physically restrained to stop them doing something they might regret. The referee ended up showing both players yellow cards, which infuriated Suarez even further, as he felt Brown should’ve been sent off and himself not carded at all.
So pumped up was he that, when play eventually resumed, he grabbed the ball and insisted he take the free kick himself…
The resulting kick could only be described as ‘just magnificent’, as it was an absolute rocket of a shot that McGregor didn’t even get a chance to react to; first thing he knew of the ball was it hitting the back of the net. 2-0 Uruguay.
Suarez responded by charging away and screaming in Brown’s face, probably hoping to get him sent off, but this time the Celtic man managed to restrain himself and not take the bait, which seemed to fire up his nemesis even more!
Straight from the kick, he launched himself forwards to try and catch Scotland out cold, and so very nearly did so, robbing Morrison and charging forwards, only for Gary Caldwell to slide in and take the ball off him. Suarez went down screaming for another foul, but the referee, rightly, judged that Caldwell had got the ball.
After all that excitement, Scotland now found themselves staring at elimination, unless they could do something remarkable, and do it very quickly. The four forwards, now practically six with Brown and Ferguson up assisting too, kept pushing forwards, but the Uruguay defence remained firmly locked in place, refusing to let them have any shots at all if they could.
As the clock was about to tick into the 90th minute, Scotland finally got a shot on, with McFadden finally losing his marker and forcing a fine save from Muslera. The corner kick was taken quickly by Ferguson, catching Uruguay out completely, and the ball found the head of Miller, who headed it past a not-ready Muslera! 2-1!
Miller had no time to celebrate, he quickly grabbed the ball and charged back to the halfway line; looking to the fourth official, he and his teammates saw the board proclaiming there would be a minimum of five added minutes, almost certainly the result of the earlier schism. There was still time for them to do this!
With this new found momentum, and very little to do anything with it, Scotland surged forwards in their numbers with even the defenders up helping now, and the previously sturdy Uruguay defence started to look a tad nervy, with their clearances becoming very hasty and panicky.
Then, with only thirty seconds of the five added minutes left, Morrison quickly put a cross into the box, only for the defence to block it behind for a corner. A huge roar went up among the Tartan Army inside the stadium as pretty much every player on the pitch crowded into the box; even McGregor came up for the kick.
Ferguson would take it slowly and carefully this time. His floated shot into the box found Miller’s head again, but Muslera was managed to get his hands on it this time; however, he could only push it away, and flew flat on his front doing so, leaving an open goal. The ball fell at Brown, who fired at the empty net…
…only for Suarez to launch himself at the ball and push it away!
The referee instantly blew for a penalty, but before he could show Suarez the red card, Brown launched himself at the Ajax player again and pushed him over a lot more forcefully than he had before. The other players quickly tried to stop another fight breaking out by surrounding both the players, both of whom would now receive their marching orders…
Once the dust had settled, Scotland had a penalty to take; score it, and we’d go to extra time, miss, and they were going home.
McFadden would take the kick to Muslera’s left…
…and the ball slammed into the post and behind!
McFadden duly sank to his knees in despair as the final whistle blew, with his teammates and a gallant Muslera consoling him.
Meanwhile, Suarez, who had delayed his departure to watch the kick, ran off down the tunnel celebrating as if they’d just won the whole tournament!
Unfortunately, he didn’t realise Brown had done likewise, and next thing he knew, the Celtic man was chasing him off down the tunnel! Thankfully, nothing came of it in the end, but it certainly cast a shadow over what had been an epic game. Even Gary Lineker and the BBC commentators were lost for words! Both players would subsequently receive a large fine and a five game international ban.
Amidst all this, Scotland’s greatest World Cup run was finally at an end. A dramatic end, but an end nonetheless.
It would also be the end of an era for two legends of these two historic runs. One was captain Barry Ferguson, who had already announced he would retire from international duty after the tournament.
The other was Alex McLeish, who confirmed the pre-tournament rumours shortly after the team arrived home from South Africa. It later emerged he had only agreed initially to manage Scotland for Euro 2008, but had agreed to stay on for the World Cup after making history at said tournament. Nonetheless, the fans couldn’t be cross with him for long, if at all, and he departed the national set up a legend of the Scottish game, though he himself would be quick to give Walter Smith and the late Tommy Burns their share of the credit for getting it all started…
And, thankfully for the SFA, they knew just who they wanted to replace him, and lead Scotland into qualification for Euro 2012…
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Phew, I'm exhausted just from writing that! I dread to think how I'd feel after actually watching that game! Especially as I'd just got back from a big trip to the continent the day before!
So, yeah, Suarez does Scotland over like he did Ghana IOTL; I dread to think how my Liverpool supporting friends and family would react if he still joins them ITTL. I'd planned for this to happen originally, but after reading your comments about how others might react to his behaviour, I decided to add in all this stuff with Brown, because that's honestly the sort of thing he'd do in those circumstances!
Anyway, another tournament is over. Euro 2012 next up, and, without wanting to give too much away, you can except some curveballs with regards to what you may be expecting next. So, whatever's going to happen? We shall find out next week...!
