Norway 4-0 Scotland … a dark day

When things go especially well, or especially poorly, there is always a tendency to go overboard. Every big win feels like the corner turned, with a wide open future ahead. Every big loss, in turn, can feel like a blind alley, with no real hope of emerging into anything like safety anytime soon. So, in order to make clear just how bad today’s loss was, let’s put it in some historical context:

The last time Scotland lost, in any match, by four goals: 18 February 2004, a friendly with Wales in Cardiff. 4-0.

The last time we lost a competitive match this badly: 19 November 2003, a Euro 2004 playoff with the Netherlands. 6-0.

The last time we lost in Norway: 4 June 1963, a 4-3 friendly loss. That’s right – we haven’t lost in Oslo in 46 years. Until today.

There are a lot of excuses being thrown around today, but we deserve none of them. Yes, Gary Caldwell’s second yellow was soft, but it was a foul and a dumb one. That little bit of grab-shirt from Caldwell left us down to ten men just after the half-hour mark, and it was barely a blink of an eye before John Arne Riise put a free kick past almost all of the Scotland wall (excepting the real goal scorer, Scott Brown’s shin). I don’t care how they score it, it was an own goal for Brown, period.

After that, it was only downhill. To be honest, I don’t have the energy to go through the goals. I’m spent. Maybe in a few days, I’ll be more able to analyze this, but for now, all that matters is this: We have gone from second place in qualifying group 9 to third, and if the group ended today, we would not be going any further. We have two matches left, both at home, hosting Macedonia and then Holland. Frankly, the way we’ve been playing, the Dutch third team would be a challenge … and we can’t count on a win over Macedonia, even at home. Considering the group we drew, anything less than second place is a travesty … and as much as I’ve stuck by George Burley, through the bad times and the worse times, if we finish out of the World Cup playoff spot, he has to go. Scotland deserves better.