Alex Mcleish takes charge of Scotland for a second time
Photo: Scottish FA
More signs of hope than glory for new Scotland manager
by Roddy Speirs Scotland Correspondent
There is an old cliché about international friendly games that the performance is more important than the result. This is a sentiment that Alex McLeish would surely echo after his first match back in charge of the national team.
Most of the Tartan Army might not know much about the Costa Rican team, with the only familiar face to most being the Celtic defender Christian Gamboa. But make no mistake about it, Costa Rica are a well organised, experienced team. The starting 11 put out by team manager Oscar Ramirez had amassed 665 caps between them (not 666 as claimed for comedic purposes elsewhere!), with both Bryan Ruiz and Celso Borges able to boast over 100 caps each. Six of the starting Costa Rican players played in the World Cup quarter final 4 years ago in Brazil with only one, Daniel Colindres, having less than 35 caps.
The Costa Ricans had a lot to play for last night. They topped their World Cup qualifying group and are off to Russia in June. With many of their players coming to the end of their playing careers, this summer’s competition might be the last chance for many of them to finish their international careers on a high. Seven of their starting eleven played in the side that held the Netherlands to a 0-0 draw in the World Cup Quarter Final, and topped a group including Italy, England and Uruguay.
In contrast, the Scotland team were much less experienced. McLeish played four new caps in his starting line up, with Hull City’s Allan McGregor Scotland’s most experience player on the field with 36 which accounted for almost a third of Scotland’s total of 138.
It was only to be expected that the opening period for Scotland was a little nervous, with the players looking unsure of themselves and allowing Costa Rica to dominate. Scotland sat back as the visitors pushed forward and were punished with Marcos Urena scoring a well worked goal.
Rather than sit back further after this set-back, Scotland started to grow in confidence, with two of the new starts Scott McTominay and Oli McBurnie in particular seeing a lot of the ball. For most of the second half Scotland were the dominant team, although despite creating a number of half-chances, Real Madrid’s Keilor Navas only had two real shots to deal with. The closest the visitors came to doubling their lead was a Bryan Ruiz’ shot that hit the bar from a tight angle. Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson looked frustrated in the first half at the lack of possession down Scotland’s right but enjoyed more opportunities in the second.
After the shaky start that saw Scotland concede the only goal, the team appeared to develop some of the swagger that Alex McLeish had been calling for before kick-off. The inevitable substitutions from both sides in the second half didn’t appear to upset the Scots as much as these sometimes can, and the home side looked the more likely side to score as the game drew to a close.
Whilst he was prepared to introduce new faces in the midfield area, McLeish appeared more reluctant to take a risk with his defence. The 36-year-old McGregor was favoured in goal rather than the uncapped Jordan Archer or Jon McLaughlin for the full match. Given the raft of substitutions in the second half, this could have been an opportunity to blood one of the less experienced keepers. One possible explanation is that the wily McLeish thought that some players would be more mentally suited to making their debuts away from home, and the expectations of the crowd.
Alternatively, he may have surmised that Hungary was a lesser opponent than the World Cup Quarter finalists, and would be a better blooding for inexperienced and perhaps nervous debutants.
Alex McLeish is looking to assemble a new squad of players capable of qualifying for a major finals after 30 years of absence. Unearthing players who can step up to national team level and getting these players to gel as a team will take time and an element of trial and error. Last night’s game and the fixture next week against Hungary will give the Scotland boss the opportunity to look at new players and try new combinations.
The negative reaction of the Tartan Army on radio phone-ins and online to the result suggests that they fully expected a victorious start to McLeish’s new reign. Whilst not even the most ardent Scotland fan would claim that it was an inspired display, perhaps there are some positives that can be drawn from Friday night’s game.
Notwithstanding the quality and pedigree of the opposition, once they have seen a further 90 minutes as well as had time to reflect on the performances of some of the new caps, perhaps they will conclude that sometimes in friendly games the performance is more important than the result.
Also See:
Match Report: Scotland 0 : 1 Costa Rica
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Scotland begin a new era at the hands of an old head
