Sunday, November 18, 2007

"Death of the Dream" for Scotland, But a Moral Victory Comforts Them

The  ANNOTICO Report

 

I knew this was going to be an exciting Match for Scotland, but I am now just understanding that the Scots looked upon this game in an Historical perspective!   

 

Scotland came in third in the "Group of Death",having to battle with the two most highly regarded teams.  Scotland  Beat France Twice, were "thrilled" to be playing the World Champions Italians, Played  "The Azzurri even until the 91st minute. They had a Right to Rejoice, and will in the future look back upon their 2007 Qualifiers with Honor.

 

Certainly, there are those fans who must find a conspiracy to assuage their bitter disappointment, and they focus on the Foul that was called in the 91st minute, as being unfair. Giorgio Chiellini shoulder-charged Alan Hutton in the corner but Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez gave the foul to Italy. Perhaps , but it was a mere Free Kick, not a Goal, Yes it was "converted" into a Goal. Andrea Pirlo passed  to  Christian Panucci who rose above Davie Weir to nod it into the net.

 

However, if they were willing to factor in the  McFadden pass to Lee McCulloch who fluffed it with a low shot straight at the goalkeeper, but the rebound fell for Barry Ferguson to ram it over the line, for a Goal. Ferguson looked a shade offside but Scotland got a break,

 

There was also, a Di Natale "goal" was disallowed which would have made it 2-0 in the first half, and even the Scots players conceded was "lucky" in that there did NOT appear to be an "offsides".

 

The article is well written, fair,informative, and entertaining.

 

 

Death of the Dream

 

Scotland 1 / Italy 2
Michael Grant at Hampden

SO IT turned out that they were right, those who said it would end in tears for Scotland. There were tears alright, and it doesn't come much closer to the end than being knocked out of a tournament by conceding a goal in time added on to the final qualifying match.

In losing narrowly to the world champions, Scotland were still able to claim the moral victory of defying the odds and clinging to life until the last possible moment in a qualifying group of death. A mixture of sadness, pride and sheer gratitude washed over the players as they trudged around Hampden a few minutes after the game for a lap of honour. Euro 2008 had been a moral victory worth applauding.

There was honour in their extraordinary campaign and honour in the way they fell to the Italians. They let themselves down with a silly moment of carelessness at the start - allowing Luca Toni to score against them for the third time in this group, a numbing setback after just 72 seconds - but after that everything else was full-blooded passion and drama.

Italy were smoother and more pleasing on the eye, even in horrible playing conditions, but Scotland did not let themselves down. They generated enough chances to deserve the draw which would have been theirs had it not been for an inexplicable refereeing decision in stoppage time.

Giorgio Chiellini shoulder-charged Alan Hutton in the corner but Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez gave the foul to Italy. Andrea Pirlo swept it over and Christian Panucci rose above Davie Weir to nod it into the net. Simple as that, and Scotland's effort was all over bar the shouting which came later from manager Alex McLeish and his players.

The enormity of Scotland's campaign demanded some sort of dramatic climax and it turned out to be a disputed Italian goal.

From the second minute on, Scotland could not have done much more. They gave it their all and let Italy know they were in a game. The misplaced passes which undermined their performance were understandable given the nervousness of the occasion and the wet surface; but, even in defeat, playing just one striker was a success. Scotland were always in the game and created two outstanding chances as well as their goal.

The two they conceded owed nothing to being pegged back or overrun by the Italians, even though both Paul Hartley and Darren Fletcher were used to patrol in front of the back four. It was defensive, but it kept Scotland in contention and Italy showed that they were capable of ripping apart a more open formation.

It all unfolded under a sky as black as coal. If Scotland wanted horrible weather to discourage and subdue the Italians then the gods obliged. This amounted to Scotland hitting Italy with everything: ugly weather, a ferociously committed team and a deafening, swaying Hampden as good as it had been since England were here eight years ago. As England did with a 2-0 win back then, Italy took all the hostility and aggression of Hampden and punctured it.

The build-up and hype for this match had lasted so long and built painstakingly to such a crescendo it seemed absurd to throw so much away with the present of a goal to the Italians in 72 seconds. Gianluca Zambrotta didn't take an Italian throw-in from where the ball went out, but a ball boy innocently returned it to him and he gave it to Antonio Di Natale. Hutton did not close down Di Natale and instantly Scotland were in trouble, their central defenders racing out of position in a desperate attempt to recover.

Weir ran to close down Di Natale, but too late. He squared for Toni and Stephen McManus could not reach that lion of a striker before he stabbed the ball high into the goal. All from a throw-in before the game was two minutes old. To think French coach Raymond Domenech criticised Scotland's ball boys earlier in the campaign for being slow to return the ball.

Italy's big players pulled them through. Toni was a beast who terrified Scotland, and Mauro Camoranesi was outstanding. It took a while before there was anything to ruffle Fabio Cannavaro and his fellow defenders although slowly Scotland began to worry them. After dozing at the start, what a match Hutton woke up to. He might have equalised with a glancing header which sailed just wide. Another defender, Weir, came closer still with a looping header cleared off the goal-line by Pirlo.

These looked like they would be the what-might-have-been moments, but there was a goal in Scotland.

Zambrotta conceded a free-kick in what, in these circumstances, has to be called James McFadden territory. McFadden had a thankless shift and although he was tireless - they all were - his best contributions were set-pieces. This kick wasn't his best but the ball squirted through the defence to Lee McCulloch close enough to see the whites of Gigi Buffon's eyes. McCulloch fluffed it with a low shot straight at the goalkeeper, but the rebound fell for Barry Ferguson to ram it over the line. Ferguson looked a shade offside but Scotland got a break, as they had when a Di Natale "goal" was disallowed which would have made it 2-0 in the first half. Those decisions had to be factored into the complaints about Italy's winner.

The equaliser was like a 65th minute shot of adrenaline for Hampden. Scotland swarmed at Italy without being reckless. When Kenny Miller came on he simply took over as the lone forward, with McFadden withdrawing to midfield. They briefly pulled Italy around and created two chances for a winner.

McFadden fired wide after a wonderful, sweeping move, and then, 10 minutes from time, he somehow could not wrap that left foot around a low Miller ball across the Italian penalty area and could only send it wide of the post. That would have put Scotland 2-1 up in the closing minutes. Supporters will still expect him to score it every time they watch again on television.

Italy had a miss of their own when Panucci headed wide at the foot of the post, but that one did not matter. The disputed free-kick flew into the net and suddenly, instantly, killingly, it was all over.

The group of death dealt its fatal blow in stoppage time and, as far as Euro 2008 was concerned, it finally stopped Scotland.

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (and are Archived) on:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com [Formerly Italy at St Louis] (7 years)

Italia Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com (3 years)

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net