Scotland V England. Preview from a Scottish Perspective

DO Scotland have any chance of beating the Auld enemy?

Our results have been anything but impressive in 2018 world cup qualification - so we could be forgiven for being very negative going into the game on June 10th. Personally, I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll explain why.

Although we've been roundly pumped in our away games against Slovakia and Them, it wasn't all as bad as it seems:

Now, at the time I was furious. The inability to finish and the powder-puff defending lead to a disastrous 3-0 defeat. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing. If you can bare it, take a look at the highlights:
Slovenia 3-0 Scotland Highlights
Early chance missed by Fletcher was followed by  a highly contentious opener by Robert Mak. 

We dominated from there - Well, at least until Mak grabbed his 2nd of the night on 56 minutes. Who really cares about what happened after that? The point is there were positives to take from this game... Wasn't there? 

One month later we were warmly welcomed to Wembley to a chorus of boos over O' Flower of Scotland. I'd have loved nothing more than to beat them. But again the game followed a familiar pattern. We were creating chances and we were looking good. I remember thinking 'We're going to win this.' 

Try telling me we got hammered 3-0 twice in a month and I'd still have a hard time believing it. I still thought we could get something right up until the Cahill goal. This Scotland side has 2 weaknesses and it's plainly obvious - We can't score and we ship soft goals. My thoughts were mimicked by 99.9% of Scotland fans.

5 million people and not 1 good centre back.

Strachan out! He's lost the plot.

I digress, the real reason anybody has optimism at this stage is thanks to the performance against Slovenia. Stuart Armstrong, Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson were sensational.

Even Chris Martin... Especially Chris Martin, who popped up with the winner after being booed onto the park. A similar performance and we can take a point or three. For sure.

So, we've got a chance. We always seem to have a chance before we get pumped by Georgia away. I've never known anything else. Vague and blurred memories of France 98 are all I have to cling onto.

That's right. this really is our 10th attempt at qualifying for a major final. I am sick of hearing that statistic and I'm sick of hearing 'Scotland the Brave.' A country of 5 million, each one of them singing from the 'ah well, at least we tried' hymn sheet.

There's only one way to stop that, isn't there?

Mon Scotland.