There was the small matter of an international at the weekend and being a Scotland fan as well as much-maligned Motherwell fan I tuned in to Saturday’s coverage of the game in the San Siro with much the same trepidation as that which followed me to Hampden the previous Sunday – there’s always the faint hope that you may pull off a shock and come away with a win but at the same time there’s that horrible lingering feeling that you could get stuffed.
Thankfully whilst a win was never really on the cards the latter didn’t happen either and over all the side that Smith turned out pretty much exonerated themselves by turning in what was a vastly improved performance.
Before the game Smith lamented about how it was the performance rather than the result that was much more important to Scotland’s long-term future, this was certainly what we got. The Scotland side which took the field last Saturday were organised, coherent and compact and made it very difficult for the Italians to get into their stride, a massive leap from the night we made Hungary look good.
The contrast between the side Smith fielded on Saturday and that which Vogts had gone with was stark. Indeed it can be summed up quite simply in that Smith’s Scotland looked every bit the focused, coherent international side we were longing for under Vogts whose sides looked increasingly confused, in-coherent and amateur.
Hopefully the days when Vogts would hand out caps like they were going out of fashion are long gone and we can now look forward to the luxury of having a settled Scotland side which has (much like the mighty ‘Well) just the right blend of youth and experience.
The return of Weir from a three-year international exile was vastly important where at 34 he is Scotland’s most experienced player with 38 caps to his name. For the purpose of perspective contrast this with England where Beckham and Owen are under 30 and have nearly 160 caps between them.
Both Beckham and Owen along with the likes of Gerrard and Rooney immediately spring to mind at the mention of the English national side with each having achieved superstar status in the mind of their adoring public. Whilst a lot of this down to the often over the top media spin and ever so slightly over confident English commentators it is something which has been sorely missing as far as Scotland are concerned where apathy seems to rain.
The importance of building a settled side is at the forefront of Scotland’s revival under Smith where we have to be look to build a coherent and organised side around players such as Weir, McNamara, Ferguson and Quashie with players such as Fletcher and Faddy providing the youthful exuberance and spark that could stir the public consciousness and get us excited about the prospect of once again seeing our nation compete on the international stage.