Scotland and Croatia’s short history together

Three days now until George Burley leads his first Scotland team out onto the Hampden pitch to face Croatia. I just wanted to take a quick look at the history of the fixture. That look will be necessarily a quick one, since the two sides have only met twice in their history, not surprising considering that the Croatian team has only existed as a UEFA side since 1992. The overall record is 0 Scotland wins, 0 Croatia wins, and 2 draws, with a total of one goal scored for each side. If you wanted to get technical, Scotland has the edge on away goals, but that doesn’t matter in internationals. Both games came in group six of the qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.

Croatia 1-1 Scotland, October 11 2000
Before Kevin Gallacher was a TV pundit or a best-selling author (I highly recommend his book “Tartan Turmoil”), he was a Scotland striker who represented his country at three major tournaments, two European championships and the 1998 World Cup. He did his part to return to football’s greatest stage when he equalized against Croatia in Zagreb, his ninth and final Scotland goal. However, it wouldn’t be enough, as we finished two points behind Belgium for the second spot in the group, despite being the only team in the group to avoid losing to group winners Croatia.

Scotland 0-0 Croatia, September 1 2001
Hampden was an unusually welcoming ground in the 2002 qualifiers, and as all Scotland fans know, when we don’t win at Hampden, we’re sunk. The qualifying campaign at Scotland’s home ground opened with a 2-2 draw with Belgium, and our finishing problems continued with a scoreless draw with the Croatians. A 4-0 win over San Marino and an embarrassingly close 2-1 over Latvia were not enough to move us on.

So, who will add their name to Gallacher’s and become only the second Scotland player to score against Croatia? We know it won’t be James McFadden, but considering their recent form, Steven Fletcher and Kris Boyd are both great candidates. The all-time head-to-head record is on the line. There’s nothing like as much on the line as the last time we met Croatia, but we still need to make sure Hampden is thought of as a fortress. Mon the Scots.