Scots sent home before the postcards

The U-20 World Cup has been a huge disappointment for Scotland, but at least now it’s over. Three games, three losses. Two goals scored, seven conceded. Before the tournament, Scotland were a strong contender, second in Europe and gunning for a quarterfinal at least. Today, they leave as one of the poorest teams in the Cup, without a win and in absolute turmoil. We waited twenty years to see Scotland in a youth World Cup, and this is what we waited for. A defense that always seemed afraid of the next goal, and an attack that never seemed to inspire much fear of its own. Archie Gemmill’s defensive strategy completely backfired, and though the team improved with each game (DISMAL against Japan, merely awful against Nigeria, and just mediocre against Costa Rica), a three-game group stage has no time for slow and steady progress.

I’ll be more analytical in the next few days, breaking down what went wrong. For now, I’m just gutted. We are better than this.

Before I forget, though, cheers to our two goal scorers, Ross Campbell and Mark Reynolds. Both are good young Scottish prospects, and they gave us a few much-needed moments of hope in this campaign. Thanks, lads.

Category: Scottish Premier League

Tags: Costa Rica, Japan, Nigeria, Scotland, Scottish national team, Scottish Premier League, Tournament News, U-20 World Cup

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