Scotland Men's Football Team - BBC Sport (2024)

The pain of an early Euros exit will be sore enough for Scotland, but the tag of being the tournament's "most boring team" will only rub salt into the wounds.

Steve Clarke's side scored just two goals, both of which were finished by opposition players, and matched the record for fewest shots in the competition's group stage.

They are also the only team at the current finals who have failed to register a first-half shot - something they did on two occasions.

Those grim statistics have raised questions on whether Clarke has what it takes to get the maximum out of the players at his disposal.

The Scotland head coach has deservedly received praise for taking the nation to back-to-back European Championships, but a second straight disappointment in the groups has some fans asking: 'Can Clarke take us any further?'.

"I have my doubts about that," The Athletic's Jordan Campbell says on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"Clarke's had such a long period of time there [to get the team] ready for a major tournament where we know we're going to have to be better on the ball and be able to break teams down.

"I don't see any evidence he's going to be the guy that can do that. And that's not a slight against him, he's a good manager at what he does, but I think for this team, there is more ability than what we showed in the last two weeks.

"You look at other teams like Albania, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia. They've all had a moment or a game in this tournament where they've really shown themselves and they've shown their identity.

"What do people come away thinking about Scotland? I don't really think they come away remembering anything about our style of football, apart from that we're probably, sadly, the most boring team to watch in the tournament."

What do you think? Is Clarke still the right man to lead Scotland forward?

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Was a miserable Euros campaign always in the script for Scotland?

Injury and fitness issues to some key players undoubtedly played a part, but Tom English says a nine-month demise meant he could see failure coming.

After qualifying in spectacular fashion, Steve Clarke's side travelled to Germany in poor form - one victory, against a woeful Gibraltar, in nine.

A winless Euro 2024 means that run now stands at one in 12, having gained just a single point from three group games.

Despite a "really excellent" qualification campaign, full of "verve, intensity and aggression", BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter says Clarke will now "have to answer" for the team having "no creativity".

"I didn't think this team would achieve anything in these Euros," English said on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"This demise didn't start against Germany in Munich. It started many months ago. The things that made them a good side... they just faded away over the last eight, nine, 10 months.

"And the chickens coming home to roost was this championship. Eventually Clarke will do a press conference and he's going to have to answer why he was unable to bring some creativity into this team.

"I don't want to say he sleepwalked his way to this championship, but it kind of felt like it because nothing changed.

"It was the same old, same players, same formations, doing the same things, and it amounted to one point and a really feeble exit."

As if to rub salt into Scotland's wounds, Saturday's fixtures here at the Euros make for painful reading, with Scotland's name nowhere to be seen.

Saturday 29th June:

17:00 - Switzerland v TBC

20:00 - Germany v TBC

Hungary have a waiting game. Three points may be enough for Marco Rossi's side to progress but they won't know for sure until the fixtures are completed in certain other groups.

Sadly, the only thing the Scotland players and staff were waiting for earlier was transport to the airport for the flight home.

The fans have left a lasting impression on Germany with their good behaviour, vast numbers and huge contribution to the local economy of each city they enlivened with their presence.

On the football front though, Scotland's minimal contribution will be quickly forgotten as this fine tournament builds towards an exciting climax.

Former Scotland international Pat Nevin says Scotland didn't deserve a place in the last 16 of the Euros, and anyone that thinks otherwise is "kidding themselves".

Steve Clarke's side finished bottom of Group A with just one point after their 1-0 defeat to Hungary on Sunday.

"Can we sit here and say we were robbed? No," Nevin told the Scottish Football Podcast.

"We are not a team or a group or a nation that can say we should be in the next round.

"We got one point out of nine, we didn't have a whole bunch of chances and a whole bunch of domination in the final third.

"Anyone who says we were robbed and thinks we should be in the next round is kidding themselves."

Scotland international Erin Cuthbert believes an apology is "not required" from Andy Robertson after the men's captain said sorry to the nation following their Euro 2024 exit.

After Sunday's 1-0 loss to Hungary knocked Scotland out, an emotional Robertson apologised to the Tartan Army for "letting you down", but Cuthbert says the side's effort cannot be faulted.

"Andy feels the weight of the country of his shoulders so I wasn't surprised to hear [him apologising]," she said.

"He saw the level of support, everything on social media, maybe he doesn't feel the performances have matched that.

"An apology is not required because we've all had the time of our lives here. No matter what, the boys have given 100% effort. As Scots, we can't fault that."

Cuthbert, who has 68 caps for her country, also backed Steve Clarke to recover from the latest failure at a major tournament.

"He's got us to two major tournaments so he's done a great job," Cuthbert added. "We've fallen short at the tournaments and I'm leaving this one thinking 'what if?' because I think we're good enough.

"I know Steve Clarke, he's a good guy and he'll pick himself up, dust himself down and reflect. Whatever happens, we'll come back fighting."

Callum McGregor says the "ball just didn't drop" for Scotland in their Euro 2024 loss against Hungary.

Steve Clarke's side missed out on the chance of a historic place in the last 16 with a 1-0 defeat in their final group stage game.

"It's a huge disappointment," McGregor said.

"There was so much hope and expectation, we thought this was going to be the time we did it.

"The players gave everything but sometimes in football the ball just doesn't drop where you need it to drop. That was probably the case tonight.

"The point wasn't enough for us, it would have been a big ask for us to go through on two points. We knew we had to try and win the game. You throw everything at it and you get hit on the counter-attack. That goal was probably irrelevant.

"We've been away from these competitions for a long time. It's building all the time and sometimes you have to suffer disappointment to understand the level.

"We definitely had the confidence and belief we could get the job done. Hungary made it a difficult game, like we knew they would, and they found the moment of quality which we never quite did."

• John McGinn won five fouls in this match, the most by a Scotland player in a major tournament game since Christian Dailly won six against Norway at the 1998 World Cup.

• Grant Hanley completed 69 passes against Hungary, the most by a Scotland player in a major tournament game that Opta has on record (1974 World Cup onwards). Hanley also had more touches in the opposition box than any other Scottish player (four).

• Scotland completed 249 passes in the first half, the most they have completed in the first half of a major tournament match on record (1974 World Cup onwards).

• There have only been two instances at Euro 2024 of a team failing to have a shot in the first half of a match and both have been Scotland - against Germany and now against Hungary.

• Hungary ended a run of eight Euro matches without a win, registering their first victory since a 2-0 win over Austria at Euro 2016 – this was also their first clean sheet since that win.

• Scotland had just 17 shots at Euro 2024 in total – since the group stage was introduced in 1980, that is the joint fewest by a nation in a group stage, along with Northern Ireland at Euro 2016.

• Hungary’s goal scored by Kevin Csoboth in the 100th minute was the latest goal ever scored in a European Championship match (excluding extra-time), timed at 99 minutes and 32 seconds.

• This was Scotland’s 12th major tournament group stage and in 50% of those they have failed to win a single match – at the 1954, 1958, 1986 and 1998 World Cups and Euro 2020 and 2024.

Scotland's Scott McKenna says it will "take months" for the squad to process their Euro 2024 disappointment.

The Scots were knocked out of the tournament after a 1-0 defeat to Hungary on Sunday night.

"We're massively disappointed," McKenna said.

"I don't have a way to describe the feeling in the changing room after the game.

"We came here wanting to win the game and try and do something no Scotland team has done before but it wasn't to be.

"I think it's a bit too soon to reflect on the game. I think the overriding emotion is disappointment.

"It's a fantastic squad to be part of, it's been a brilliant experience but just a bit of frustration we couldn't take it a step further.

"Not just the fans in the stadium, thousands who have been outside the stadium, even the ones that didn't get to Germany. They've all been backing us massively. we hope they enjoyed it we're just disappointed we couldn't take it one step further for them.

"It will take a few weeks, maybe even months, to process but it's a group of players that certainly can pick ourselves up and hopefully qualify for more tournaments in the future."

This won't be a popular opinion, but Scotland finished exactly where they should have in group A - bottom.

Let's remind ourselves of the teams' respective world rankings: Germany, 16th; Switzerland, 19th; Hungary, 27th; Scotland, 39th.

Wonder of wonders: that's exactly the order they finished in the group, with Scotland living up to their seeding: 4th.

To have done any better, Steve Clarke needed to get his team to do what it did in qualifying and over-perform. The form that brought the big wins over Spain and Norway was nowhere to be seen here.

Indeed, not only did Scotland fail to exceed their normal levels, they actually did the opposite and under-performed.

Three shots on target in the entire tournament? 17 shots of any description across all three matches? It simply doesn't cut it at this level.

There are mitigating circ*mstances, of course. The list of key players missing is far too long for a country not blessed with the deepest of squads.

Then there's the issue of expectation management. Far better teams than this current Scotland one have failed to progress from their groups at major tournaments.

Indeed, better Scotland teams have even failed to qualify for tournaments at all. So from where did the notion emerge that Steve Clarke could manoeuvre Scotland above a Swiss side who've just qualified for their sixth successive tournament knock-out phase and the best Hungary side in nearly 70 years?

It's fanciful stuff, when you drill down into the detail.