Scotland 3-2 Netherlands: World Cup 1978, first group stage — as it happened
4.56pm GMT
A defiant final roar from our “born winner”! A couple of drops remain of his signature optimism. There’ll be a couple of drops of malt downed tonight, that’s for sure, both in Mendoza and back home. Goodbye, Argentina ‘78, we hardly knew ye. This campaign will surely go down in legend as one of the most reckless, hopeless, needlessly farcical failures in the entire history of the World Cup. Sent homeward, tae think again. Again. But hey, at least you can’t say it was boring. And maybe we’ll look back at all this carry-on with fondness given time. After all, who knows what other horrors may supersede it years to come?
4.50pm GMT
A word with Ally MacLeod, who makes sure we get the top line of his message. “It’s just one of those things.” He says this six times in a five-minute press conference. “As manager you must take the blame. I told my kids to save up to see us defend the World Cup in Spain but it’s not to be. When we were 3-1 up, I looked at the clock and saw there was 20 minutes and realised it might be in our hands. But you get a bit elated when it’s like that and you get caught. It’s just one of those things. If we’d played like that from the beginning, we would have won the competition.”
4.49pm GMT
“Scotland can at least go home and look people in the face,” suggests David Coleman on the BBC. Hmm, let’s see how that pans out. But yes, the point stands: some dignity has been reclaimed. In fact, Scotland were for the most part brilliant tonight, but had no luck whatsoever in the crucial moments. It’s almost as if there’s some huge karmic payback going on for the SFA’s sniffy attitude back in 1950.
4.46pm GMT
Scotland, this year’s hipsters’ choice, are out of the 1978 World Cup. Oh Ally. Hugh Forgan enquires: “What colour of medal did we get?”
4.45pm GMT
90 min: Donachie finds Hartford down the left. Hartford whips the ball to the far post, where Forsyth, unchallenged and six yards out, heads over when it was far, far easier to score. He picks himself up from the turf, his body heavy with depression. That should have been Scotland’s fourth. Not that it matters a jot, because the Scots would still have required another after that, and before Jongbloed can take the goal kick ...
4.43pm GMT
88 min: “It really is sad, when you look at the ability these Scottish players have got, that they find themselves in this position at all,” sighs David Coleman on the BBC. Yep, expect quite the debrief. The fallout could last years. Will Scotland lose their confidence, their trademark swagger? Things might never be the same again.
4.41pm GMT
86 min: Jansen boofs a long ball up the left. Rene van der Kerkhof steals a march on Buchan and enters the area. From a tight angle, he fires straight through the six-yard box, the ball missing the right-hand post by a couple of feet. Rough had shown him far too much of the near post there, so much so that he was diving back towards goal in his attempt to stop the shot. What comically dreadful positioning.
4.40pm GMT
85 min: Gemmill slides Forsyth away down the right. Forsyth is upended. Gemmill swings his free kick onto the penalty spot, where Krol heads confidently clear. Suurbier hits long down the left. The chasing Rep jinks past Kennedy and makes good for the box, but his low pullback for Rene van der Kerkhof is cut out brilliantly by Donachie. To be scrupulously fair to Scotland, while they’re now performing under a large black cloud, they haven’t once thrown in the towel.
4.38pm GMT
83 min: Hartford, Souness, Kennedy and Dalglish ping it around in pretty triangles down the right. Holland played at their own game. But once again they crash onto the rocks of the Dutch offside trap. Scotland come again, Kennedy in space down his wing, but though Jordan is on hand to meet the deep cross at the left-hand post, Jongbloed diverts the ball out of the road.
4.37pm GMT
82 min: Scotland are bereft. Emotionally drained. There’s nothing left in the tank. A nice simple 0-3 defeat would have been much easier to process.
4.35pm GMT
80 min: Kennedy is robbed down the left by Willy van der Kerkhof, but with brother Rene begging for a pass down the middle, he wangs a ludicrously heavy pass straight towards Rough.
4.34pm GMT
79 min: The Dutch have been well below par tonight, but Rep’s movement is something to behold. From the corner, he’s found to the right of the Scottish D, his back to goal. He plays the ball downfield to Willy van der Kerkhof, who chips forward down the middle, Rep having swung round in a gentle arc to beat the offside trap and break into the box. Such a smooth move, and a shame that he ends it by rather absent-mindedly sending a soft header straight down Rough’s gullet.
4.33pm GMT
78 min: Plenty of possession for Holland now. Rensenbrink is sent into acres down the left, but even though the Scottish defence is pretty threadbare, he settles for a corner, not blessed with much in the way of support.
4.32pm GMT
77 min: This is turning out to be heartbreaking. Bittersweet at best. Only Scotland. Still, would we have them any other way? Probably, yes.
4.31pm GMT
75 min: The Scottish fans are still giving it plenty, but there’s a sense that the jig is up. Souness walked away from that last burst of action with his head hung low. Or as low as the Sounessian pride will allow.
4.30pm GMT
74 min: Hartford, to the right of the centre circle, rakes a super diagonal pass towards Dalglish, sending him clear down the inside left. But not for the first time Dalglish’s lack of pace lets him down, and he hasn’t got the power to break into the box. He hesitates, allowing Krol to cover. Dalglish clips the ball inside for Souness, who has time to shoot on the edge of the area but opts to knock a pass back to Rioch. Hartford tries to Gemmill his way through the Dutch back line with a little chip, but the ball’s blocked and Dalglish is stranded offside.
4.29pm GMT
73 min: Gemmill takes his frustration out on the ball, blootering it down the left to set Donachie into space. His cross to the far post is contested by Jordan, but overly so. Peep!
4.29pm GMT
Yep, this is Scotland all right. Having battled to within one goal of making it through, here comes instant deflation. Hartford slides a pass forward to Dalglish on the edge of the D. The striker looks to turn to his right but is crowded out. So close to breaking through for that killer blow. But then comes the killer blow Scotland didn’t want. Krol jogs towards the halfway line and finds Rep on the right, just inside his own half. Rep flicks back to Krol, who has advanced down the channel. Krol then returns the favour, with Rep underlapping him on the inside, picking up speed. Scotland don’t close him down, and from 30 yards he unleashes a rising shot towards the top-left corner. Rough does his best to get a hand to it – the ball might even have brushed the tips of his gloved fingers – but that just can’t be stopped! Rep turns, a toothy grin spreading over his face more in relief than celebration. In the background, Gemmill looks totally distraught, his once-in-a-lifetime achievement, his career pinnacle, his work of art, rendered worthless junk after 202 seconds.
4.28pm GMT
70 min: That was arguably the greatest goal ever scored at a World Cup! What a slalom! What genius! But this is Scotland, and so inevitably it’s nearly followed up by the most laughable own goal of all time. Jansen goes on a lumber down the right and wins a free kick, shoulder-charged with unnecessary force by Buchan. Boskamp takes the set piece, whipping the ball through the six-yard area. Rough flaps. Kennedy connects at the far post, knocking a downward header behind for a corner – but only missing the left-hand post by an inch or so! It’s a small wonder that didn’t find the net. He was under no pressure whatsoever! Nothing comes from the resulting corner, but dearie me.
4.26pm GMT
Kennedy scoops the ball down the right to Dalglish, who picks up possession ahead of Poortvliet on the right-hand edge of the area. He steps out towards the wing and makes space to turn, then looks to burst into a gap between Poortvliet on his right and Jansen to his left. He manages that, but Krol slides in to tackle. The ball breaks back up the wing to Gemmill, who takes six of the best touches you’ll ever see in a World Cup finals! One: to nip the loose ball inside and away from Jansen. Two: he turns and faces goal. Three: he nudges the ball past Krol, desperately sliding out but destined to skitter hysterically upfield and out of the picture. Four: he prods the ball into the area past another hapless slide from Poortvliet. Five: he takes a touch to allow himself to open his body up to goal. Six: he caresses an exquisite chip into the middle of the goal, over the hopeless spread of Jongbloed. Wow! Gemmill is entitled to race 16 times around the stadium after that, but satisfies himself with a few fist clenches and a jog back to the halfway line. That’s a thing of artistic beauty, made better by poor Jongbloed’s position during the money shot: splayed chest down on the turf, but looking up and backwards in impotent distress as the ball sailed into the net.
4.24pm GMT
69 min: Please assume the brace position. You’re not going to believe this, but ... this ... this is on!!! Because ...
4.23pm GMT
68 min: Holland aren’t looking all that sharp up front right now, either. Rensenbrink chips a pass forward in the hope of releasing Willy van der Kerkhof, but the covering Souness cushions a superb defensive header back to Rough. The keeper bowls the ball out to Hartford on the right, by the halfway line. He cuts inside and is bundled over by Rene van der Kerkhof. Rioch takes the free kick, tapping to Kennedy on the right wing. And then ...
4.21pm GMT
66 min: Scotland have the Dutch firmly on the back clog. Can they strike while the iron is hot?
4.20pm GMT
65 min: But Jordan’s nothing if not a presence, a constant menace, and here he isn’t too far away from latching onto Hartford’s speculative pass down the middle. Holland aren’t looking particularly comfortable or secure at the back. Not at all.
4.19pm GMT
64 min: Souness strokes a left-to-right crossfield pass into the path of Kennedy, who is bombing down the right channel. The full back takes a heavy touch, a pity because space for a shot was opening up in front of him. But Rene van der Kerkhof, belying Holland’s nerves, steps across and concedes a sloppy corner. He gets away with this one, Jordan penalised for pushing and shoving, in the fashion of a galoot, when the corner’s sent in.
4.18pm GMT
63 min: Rene van der Kerkhof curls a high cross in from the right. Rensenbrink is clear on the penalty spot, but slices a volley into the air. Rough comes out to collect under pressure from Rep, but can’t get a proper hold of the ball. Luckily for Scotland - a tattered mess at the back, having presumably decided it’s Buenos Aires or bust - Forsyth is on hand to mop up and clear the lines.
4.17pm GMT
62 min: Jansen sends Rene van der Kerkhof away down the right. Closing towards the byline, he breaks left, poking the ball past Rioch and into the area. Rough races towards him and decides to stay upright and tackle with his feet. Van der Kerkhof doesn’t fancy a dust-up, and shirks the challenge, ceding possession to the keeper. Scotland were living dangerously there.
4.16pm GMT
60 min: The Dutch look a bit rattled here. Three rash fouls transport Scotland from box to box. First Rensenbrink pulls Gemmill back by the neck, then Boskamp slides through Jordan like spatula under fried egg, and finally Poortvliet clatters Dalglish just outside the Dutch box on the left. Souness floats the free kick to Jordan, level with the right-hand post. He’s the boss of the Dutch defence, and wins yet another knock-down, but Forsyth, six yards out in the middle, isn’t paying attention properly and is on the back foot when the ball flashes across goal. No matter, he was flagged offside anyway – another slightly questionable decision by the linesman – but he should have skelped that into the net just to put the wind up Holland, if nothing else.
4.14pm GMT
58 min: Dalglish snaps around Boskamp’s ankles and wins possession marvellously. Souness finds Forsyth, who rakes a long pass down the inside-right channel for Dalglish. For a second, Kenny looks like breaking clear. But he doesn’t quite have the pace to reach the pass, Poortvliet coming across to cover and welt the ball out of play on the right. From the throw, Souness whips in a cross, and Dalglish flashes a header wide right. If that was on the postage stamp, it’s not clear Jongbloed would have had it covered. “He’s grown up today,” sniffs the BBC’s David Coleman down the distant phone-line, referring to a player who has won four Scottish titles, scored 19 international goals, and notched a winner in a European Cup final.
4.12pm GMT
57 min: Boskamp lumps a free kick into the Scottish area from a central position, 35 yards out. Forsyth clears. Rene van der Kerkhof, 25 yards out, just to the left, sends the ball high, right and very much towards 1962 World Cup hosts Chile.
4.11pm GMT
56 min: “You’ll never walk alone,” trill the Scottish fans, which is either staunch support, or biting comment on the state of the team bus, and the fact Chrysler have taken back the keys to all the squad’s sponsored Avengers. True story.
4.10pm GMT
55 min: Holland seriously click into gear for the first time this afternoon. Rep takes a quick free kick down the right, tapping to Jansen who slips the ball wide to Boskamp. The blond substitute curls a cross into the centre, where Rep connects with a spectacular bicycle kick from just inside the box. The ball flies well over the bar, a sad end to a crisp move. Let’s not tempt fate too much, but it doesn’t look as though Rep has his shooting boots with him today.
4.09pm GMT
53 min: Krol obstructs Dalglish as the pair battle down the Scottish right, near the corner flag. The fans keep singing. “Bonnie Scotland, we’ll support you ever more!” Even after Hartford wafts a dim free kick to the far post where Jordan isn’t.
4.08pm GMT
52 min: This game is - and indeed has always been - a couple of decent final balls away from becoming a scoring spectacular. First Kennedy is released in acres down the right, zipping past a mistimed Suurbier lunge, but his cross is awful. Then Rene van der Kerkhof takes up the ball to the left of the Scottish half, plays a loose pass into the middle behind Rep, chases after it himself, skins Buchan on the outside down the right, then upon reaching the byline hoicks the cross out of play. Try predicting how this is going to end! OK, yes, it’s Scotland at a World Cup, maybe that’s not such a hard task. But how are they going to go out? Because it’s far from clear how this will finish.
4.07pm GMT
51 min: Rep and Rensenbrink twinkle along the right-hand edge of the Scotland area, looking for a way through, but when the ball’s eventually dinked into the box, Buchan is across to sweep up calmly. Scotland move upfield through Jordan, who is upended by Wildschut just inside the Dutch half down the left. He springs up immediately, and is sent clear down the wing by a quickly taken free kick. He crosses low, but it’s a bit rushed, and nowhere near either Hartford or Rioch.
4.06pm GMT
50 min: Rep has a slash from 25 yards, an awkward low ball bouncing along the scarred turf towards the bottom left. Rough is down to parry to the right, then springs up to claim.
4.06pm GMT
49 min: Well, well, well. What a start to the second half. But it’s all fairly subdued in the immediate aftermah of that goal, almost as though both sides are carefully recalculating their positions. Kennedy swings in a hopeful cross from the right, but Jordan is outjumped for once, this time by Krol. “Pretty sure Scotland are going to blow this,” sighs Hugh Forgan, who as an East Fife fan too young to remember their great cup side of the late forties and early fifties, is used to watching his team serve up performances of fruitless disappointment. Gotta love football!
4.03pm GMT
Gemmill threads the spot kick into the bottom-right corner with a flip of his left foot. All of a sudden, thanks to a couple of goals bookending the break, the world looks very different place! This couldn’t be on, could it? Surely not. No. But it could be. It could be on. It’s on!
4.02pm GMT
47 min: PENALTY TO SCOTLAND!!! Dalglish crosses to Jordan, ten yards out and level with the left-hand post. He nods down for Souness, who can’t quite get the ball under control but nevertheless takes it towards goal. He’s bundled over, six yards out, by Willy van der Kerkhof! Souness springs to his feet and slowly raises his right arm into the air, a look of quiet, calm determination on his face, a deliberate show of gentle power. This could be a perfect start to the half for MacLeod’s side!
4.00pm GMT
We’re off again! Hats off to the BBC, who miss the start of the second half. Jimmy Hill is forced to cut off Jock Stein in mid-flow as the pictures from Argentina finally demand attention. Souness is immediately sent clear down the left, and his cross is only half dealt with by Holland. Kennedy takes up the attack down the right, winning a corner off Rensenbrink. From which ...
3.55pm GMT
Meanwhile over on the BBC ...
3.50pm GMT
Half-time advertisement break. Featuring a different Chrysler ad, plus a wonderfully Soviet campaign for Tea.
3.50pm GMT
The whistle goes, and the players troop off. A draw’s the very least Scotland deserve at this stage. You can make a solid case that they should be comfortably leading, though Holland came back strongly and could have had a couple more themselves. A fine performance so far, but let’s not get too carried away with the plaudits: they still need three goals if they’re to make the second round, and now they’ve only got 45 minutes in which to get them.
3.48pm GMT
45 min +3: Boskamp attempts to beat Rough from 40 yards. Come off it and come on. Even allowing for the keeper’s somewhat idiosyncratic style, that’s taking things a wee bit too far. “We’ll support you ever more!” holler the Scotland fans, quite the volte-face from their intemperate demands for a refund post-Iran.
3.46pm GMT
45 min +1: Rijsbergen can’t continue, and is replaced by Piet Wildschut. Then some end-to-end high-jinks. Kennedy reaches the byline out on the right and whistles a cross towards Rioch, level with the far post on the edge of the area. He heads across for Souness, who swishes his boot through thin air. Oop. Holland sweep up the left through Rene van der Kerkhof. His cross finds Rensenbrink free in acres on the edge of the box, but the striker can’t control.
3.45pm GMT
Here we go! Here we go! Suddenly the picture changes a little! Souness, loitering on the left, just outside the area, caresses a diagonal cross towards Jordan, ten yards out, level with the right-hand post. The big striker rises elegantly above Rensenbrink - miles above - and heads back across goal, and down towards Dalglish, a perfect tee-up. Dalglish sets himself, lets the ball bounce, balletically swivels, and creams a rising shot into the top right past Jongbloed’s despairing wave! What a stunning finish that is, from a player who has rarely replicated his Celtic and Liverpool form on the international stage.
3.43pm GMT
43 min: Rene van der Kerkhof turns on the burners to embarrass Kennedy down the left. The full back does enough to ensure he doesn’t make the area, but Holland win a corner. The ball’s worked out to the right, allowing Rene’s twin Willy to send a weak shot down Rough’s throat. Scotland are beginning to be pulled this way and that. They’ve lost a lot of momentum after the goal. Their fast start seems an age ago.
3.42pm GMT
42 min: Scotland look a little lost right now. Deflated, understandably so. They really need something to happen before half-time, if only to stop them slipping into a funk of deepest blue during the break.
3.41pm GMT
40 min: Holland push Scotland back for a while, but a sustained period in the Scottish final third produces little of worth. Having soaked it up, Souness dinks a pass down the right to release Dalglish, whose cross is deflected towards Jordan at the near post. The big man goes up, forcing Jongbloed to flap out for a corner. The set piece ends up with the ball at Souness’s feet in a deep position. He tries to clip forward for Dalglish again, but Rep has led his defenders on a charge upfield and, for the 948th time already this afternoon, Scotland have several men caught offside. They’ve been unlucky, for sure, but on occasion unacceptably slow of thought, too.
3.39pm GMT
38 min: Poor old Scotland, though. They’ve been the better side, created more of the chances, and a couple of big decisions haven’t gone their way. In a parallel universe somewhere, Scotland would be at least a couple of goals up right now. They’ll have won the 1966 World Cup in one of those parallel universes, too. Probably best to stop thinking like this, it’ll drive us round the bend.
3.37pm GMT
36 min: An immediate response by the Scots, who have clearly decided they may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, and are piling forward in the gung-ho fashion. Donachie is sent scampering into space down the left. His cross shaves the top of Jordan’s head, six yards out. The ball flies to Rioch, racing in from the right. His low drive towards the bottom right is met well by Jongbloed, and Boskamp mops up the rebound.
3.36pm GMT
This is clinical: Rensenbrink heat-seeks a low penalty into the bottom-left corner. Simple as that. Rough went the right way, and wasn’t far off getting to the ball either, but it was such a well-placed kick the poor keeper had no chance. That’s the 1,000th goal in all World Cup finals. The way the last week’s gone for Scotland, they’ll feel like they’ve conceded the whole bloody lot. They now need four to progress. Four. Against the 1974 finalists. God speed, boys!
3.34pm GMT
34 min: PENALTY TO HOLLAND! What was that I said about fun? Rough throws the ball out to Kennedy on the right. The full back rolls a pass forward to Souness, who gives it back. Rensenbrink rushes in to press Kennedy, who experiences a rush of blood and, such is the paradoxical beauty of language, freezes. He turns, contemplating a backpass, but his dithering allows Rensenbrink to prod the ball away from him, down the Dutch left. Rep swarms in to pick up the loose ball and race into the area. He looks to go outside the advancing Rough, but he’s bundled over by Kennedy, desperate to catch up and atone. A no-brainer for the referee. So typical of this Scotland vintage, after playing so well. Gemmill is booked for giving the referee lip.
3.32pm GMT
32 min: Holland are turning the screw a bit now. Boskamp pings a crossfield pass to Rene van der Kerkhof down the right. The resulting cross is headed down lamely by Forsyth to the edge of his own area, where Souness is forced into a desperate last-ditch tackle as Boskamp rushes in to shoot. Scotland rush upfield through Dalglish. He races sportingly past Rijsbergen, who has been down for a minute or so after landing awkwardly from an aerial challenge with Jordan. Fair enough, the Dutch were more than happy to attack while their player was rolling about in agony. Dalglish hoicks up the wing to Rioch, who is shoved out of the way by Rep, then hacks at the Dutch star’s ankles in frustration. It’s great fun, this.
3.31pm GMT
30 min: Donachie, inside the Dutch half on the left, rolls a ball inside for Gemmill, but the wee man is away with the fairies, perhaps trying to recalculate his wage packet minus the Chrysler money. Krol steps in to intercept, and takes a few strides towards the centre circle before rolling a pass down the left channel for Rensenbrink. The striker’s clear, but he’s not getting to the ball ahead of Rough, who races from his area and slides along the ground to smother with his hands! Either he’s still suffering from that bang to the noggin, and maybe too much sun to the neep, or more likely that was as cynical as it comes. He trots back to his goalline with the ball tucked under his arm, not a trace of guilt or regret on his face. All Holland get is a free kick just to the left of the D. Boskamp hits an idiotic shot straight into the wall, and Jensen skies the rebound miles over the bar. One of the greatest professional fouls in history, not bad going for a player who is only part-time with Partick Thistle.
3.30pm GMT
29 min: Rijsbergen races down the left and curls a cross onto the head of Rensenbrink, whose aimless header floats wide left. Holland are getting back into this game now, after a fairly undistinguished start by their lofty standards.
3.29pm GMT
28 min: Jensen skins Gemmill down the right and loops a cross to the far post. It’s a bit overcooked, but Rensenbrink manages to extend a giraffe’s neck to send it arcing towards the right side of goal. Rough has to stretch high to collect, and as he does so he’s unceremoniously dumped to the floor by Rep. Rough’s got shot of the Confederacy Cap since the last attack, and could have done with the extra protection, as he rattles into the post and sits dazed awhile, propped up in the style of the alfresco drinker.
3.28pm GMT
27 min: Rene van der Kerkhof has been Holland’s best player so far. His twin Willy decides to take up some of the slack, cutting in from the left and powerfully curling a shot just to the left of goal. Rough probably had it covered, although he’s struggling with the sun and shadows - that’ll be why the Dutch switched ends upon winning the toss. He squints from beneath the peak of a cap, looking a little like an extra from current box-office smash Smokey and the Bandit.
3.25pm GMT
25 min: Rene van der Kerkhof sashays down the middle with style, a move that leads to a corner on the left. From the set piece, the ball’s worked to Jansen out on the other flank. He curls in a cross that’s met by Rensenbrink, but his header’s straight at Rough. He’s offside, anyway.
3.24pm GMT
24 min: Rioch bombs down the right wing. He’s hauled back. A free kick, just outside the area, near the byline. Souness clips what is effectively a corner to the near post, but can’t find his lurking Liverpool team-mate Dalglish.
3.23pm GMT
23 min: Donachie needlessly concedes a corner when faffing around down the left. Rene van der Kerkhof sends it long; Hartford, who had time to take it down and clear, panics and heads behind. The second corner is worked from left to right, where the aforementioned van der Kerkhof balloons what was either a hopeless shot or a dreadful cross over the bar.
3.22pm GMT
22 min: Poortvliet sprays a pinpoint crossfield pass from the left to Rensenbrink, who lays off inside for Boskamp. The midfielder has space down the right channel and time to shoot, but his effort is so weak it doesn’t even reach Rough. At least he’s paying attention now, so there’s that.
3.20pm GMT
19 min: SCOTLAND PENALTY SHOUT! Rioch drops a shoulder to dance past Krol down the left. He fires a low cross into the centre. Jordan, from the right, makes a run inside to meet it, with a view to side-footing home from 12 yards. But he’s clumsily hacked from behind by Poortvliet, who having got Jordan out of the way guides the ball back to his keeper. That surely should have been a spot kick. A very clumsy challenge by a player winning only his third cap.
3.19pm GMT
18 min: Jordan is given a stern talking to by the referee after clattering Jansen, seconds after he himself was battered by Suurbier, who had gone unpunished. A case of mistaken identity when the red mist came down, one would suggest. Will that literal boot give Holland a metaphorical kick up the jacksie? They’ve been strangely quiet so far. At one point, Boskamp was standing around in the centre circle with his back to play, having a wee chat to a pal. They need to up their game if they don’t want to suffer the improbable three-goal defeat that’d send them back home.
3.18pm GMT
16 min: Though let’s be balanced: Holland could have had a couple themselves by now. Here’s Rensenbrink, taking a pass from the left wing, stepping inside, and thrashing a shot across goal and wide of Rough’s right-hand post. Scotland stepped off a wee bit there, perhaps intoxicated by their relative successes up the other end. Dalglish still looks put out. “It’s really impressive how Dalglish is barking orders to his teammates,” observes Michael Minihan. “I’m certain he has a career in management.”
3.16pm GMT
15 min: Scotland are winning most of the ball in the middle of the park. Holland can’t get going. Gemmill slides a pass down the inside-right channel. Rioch, his back to goal, lays off inside to Dalglish, a gorgeous first touch. Dalglish, 20 yards out, meets the dropping ball with his right foot, and sends a low shot wheeching past the left-hand post. Scotland should be leading this game by now. It’s quite possible, on another day, they’d be four (!) goals to the good already. But such are the slim margins at the World Cup.
3.15pm GMT
14 min: THE SCOTS POP THE BALL IN THE NET FOR A SECOND TIME! YET, ALAS, ONCE AGAIN ... Rough, his white peaked cap defying physics by staying put despite being stretched over that springy perm, squints and launches long into the evening sun. Krol, more by accident than design, heads the dropping ball back towards his own area. Dalglish chases after it, a step behind Rijsbergen. As the pair reach the edge of the box, Dalglish sticks his right peg out and pokes the ball past the advancing Jongbloed, sending it bouncing into the corner of the net. But he’s adjudged to have clipped the heels of the defender as he made his move, a decision that looks harsh as the defender appears to have gone over by his own design. Dalglish stares at the referee with the intensity of a thousand
Glaswegians
suns.
3.13pm GMT
13 min: Scotland stroke it around the middle, they’re in control of this. Souness suddenly whips a pass down the inside-left channel, but Holland’s wily back line pushes up once again, leaving three Scots stranded. Flag up!
3.11pm GMT
11 min: Jordan flicks on a long ball. Dalglish battles for it with Rijsbergen, but the Dutch defender holds off Scotland’s star man with ease.
3.10pm GMT
10 min: During that passage of play, Neeskens went in hard on Gemmill and has knacked himself. He went into this game with a knee injury anyway. He’s stretchered off; on comes Jan Boskamp.
3.09pm GMT
9 min: Rijsbergen clambers all over Dalglish, just to the left of the D. Free kick. Rioch blooters an idiotic effort straight at the wall. Souness picks up the loose ball and tiptoes gracefully past a couple of Dutch lunges, but as he pokes the ball through to his front men, the flag goes up for offside again. This time there’s no question about it, Jordan and Hartford were several miles ahead of Holland’s defensive line. If these opening exchanges are anything to go by, this isn’t going to end goalless.
3.08pm GMT
7 min: SCOTLAND PUT THE BALL IN THE NET! BUT IT WON’T COUNT! Souness finds Donachie in a ridiculous amount of space down the left. The cross is abysmal. Gemmill then has a go down the same wing and is fouled. He hits the free kick into the first man and wins a corner. Dalglish takes, setting up Donachie to send an outswinger into the area. The Dutch step up for offside as Forsyth traps on the penalty spot and plants the ball onto the bottom of the left-hand post and into the net! But the flag’s up. That’s a really close call. Forsyth looked onside, there’s maybe a suspicion that Kennedy, lurking away to the right and well out of the road of the action, might have been half a yard off. But even then you’d raise an eyebrow. That probably should have been the opener. If only there was another referee on the sideline, watching one of these new-fangled slow-motion action replays.
3.07pm GMT
6 min: Holland sweep upfield through Neeskens, Jansen and Rene van der Kerkhof, but the latter’s low cross from the right can’t squeak through to Rep. No matter, they come again down the wing, Van der Kerkhof waltzing past Donachie with ease, reaching the byline, then cutting back into the centre. But his pass clanks into Rensenbrink, who had been making a run to the near post, and the deflection allows Donachie to make amends by welting clear.
3.06pm GMT
5 min: SCOTLAND RATTLE THE WOODWORK! Yes, they’re on the front foot all right! Souness glides into space down the right wing, stops for a wee moment of contemplation, then wedges a cross into the six-yard area. Rioch rises and plants a header onto the crossbar. You could say the Scottish captain was unlucky, especially as his effort twangs away from danger, nobody there to follow in, but he was unmarked in the middle and really should have scored.
3.05pm GMT
4 min: Neeskens tries a backheel down the Scottish right, but succeeds only in finding Jordan, who lays off to Hartford. The Manchester City midfielder advances down the channel and whistles a low shot wide right. Not fantastic, but not the worst either, emblematic of Scotland’s early efforts; they’ve had more of the ball and are on the front foot. It’s a start.
3.03pm GMT
2 min: There are roughly 35,000 spectators here; this sparkling new stadium holds 40,000. A few empty yellow seats dotted around. But it’s a decent crowd nonetheless, the best here yet in the stadium’s short history. And a wispy yet defiant chant of Scotland! Scotland! from a gang of refreshed gentlemen who are holding onto hope by their fingernails.
3.01pm GMT
1 min: The ball’s immediately launched up the right and picked off by Krol. Holland, who have decided to go with second-choice white instead of their famous oranje in order to avoid a clash for those watching the telecast on a black-and-white set, move upfield. But Rene van der Kerkhof gifts the ball to Hartford, who sends Kennedy away down the right. Krol deals with the cross, and despite Souness battling to get on the end of the clearance, the ball’s eventually shuttled back to Jongbloed. A positive start by Scotland, but then they’ve no choice: they’ve got to go for it.
3.00pm GMT
Referee Erich Linemayr, styling out a very brash red kit, gets proceedings underway. Scotland kick off, and Souness gets his first touch of this World Cup after two seconds. We’ve missed you, Graeme.
2.55pm GMT
The teams break off to warm up, as a brass band gives it laldie. I’m not 100 percent sure, but they seem to be having a brave stab at Ennio Morricone’s El Mundial, the official theme of Argentina 78. Very on-brand if so. The captains Rioch and Krol exchange trinkets. The Dutch pennant is large, orange and super furry; Scotland’s appears to be a small block of wood. A shield, with a hinge on the back, you can prop it up by the fireplace. We’ll be off in a minute or two, once the teams have changed ends!
2.50pm GMT
The teams are out! Scotland wear their famous dark blue shirts, white shorts and red socks. That lovely big roundel of a badge, Umbro diamonds as epaulettes. Holland are in their change kit of white shirts and orange kex’n’sox, those three Adidas stripes running across their shoulders and down the arms. Both teams operating at the cutting edge of fashion. The sap of anticipation is rising as kick-off approaches. It’s time for the national anthems of Scotland and Holland.
2.40pm GMT
Churchillian Oratory dept. MacLeod has, by all accounts, delivered a defiant team-talk on the way to the game, ordering his players to shove all the bad press and trash talk back down the media’s throat. “Stuff the lot of them! Let’s get out there and play as we know we can!” They could have done with whipping themselves up into this sort of righteous frenzy eight days ago, before swanning out to face Peru, but it’s easy to criticise and carp in hindsight, isn’t it. The situation is what the situation is, and just like the Souness selection, it’s better late than never.
2.35pm GMT
For those of you not particularly interested in football ... tough. The game is being shown live both on BBC1 and STV / Grampian / Border. Viewers in search of something different have one option: the 1966 Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine comic caper Gambit, in which the pair team up in Hong Kong to swindle Herbert Lom out of his millions. The choice is limited, but nevertheless it’s yours. Either way, the match will be finished in plenty of time for everyone to switch over to 2 for a rerun of Cracked Actor, the 1975 Omnibus documentary about cocaine’s David Bowie. Altogether now: “We can beat them, just for one day! We can be heroes...” You know what, that would work really well in a montage.
2.30pm GMT
Some literally breaking news from back home: A brick has been hoyed through the window of the Scottish FA offices in Glasgow. All that pre-tournament hubris is coming back to bite MacLeod and his squad on the padded side of their trousers in a big way. Take that going-away party at Hampden, for example. “They should have had the send-off after they came back,” was one Glasgow punter’s wonderfully tinder-dry take during an STV vox pop. The amount of promotional activity undertaken by both manager and squad hasn’t aged well either. In retrospect, the ad campaign for Chrysler Avenger, which showed the team standing around the popular family car alongside the slogan “They both run rings around the competition”, was simply asking for trouble. It’s been pulled, two days ahead of schedule. “It’s not my fault, I didn’t write the copy,” shrugged Alistair Young of International Image Consultants, the firm behind all of Scotland’s sponsorship deals, washing his hands ostentatiously. Chrysler’s response? “It was time to call a halt as the team just did not live up to the copywriters’ claims.” At least Chrysler didn’t manufacture the team bus, eh, ladies and gentlemen. I’m here all week, try the steak with chimichurri.
2.20pm GMT
The pointlessly stubborn Ally MacLeod has finally seen sense, selecting Graeme Souness for the first time in the campaign. Souness and his Liverpool team-mate Kenny Dalglish combined for the goal that recently won Liverpool the European Cup at Wembley, so it’s been something of a surprise that he’s not featured before. MacLeod admits he should have selected him against Iran. Too late? Probably. Anyway, he’s one of four changes to the team held by the Iranians, coming in along with Aberdeen’s Stuart Kennedy, Tom Forsyth of Rangers, and Derby County’s Bruce Rioch, who reclaims the captain’s armband from Archie Gemmill. Out go Sandy Jardine of Rangers, Manchester United striker Lou Macari, and Nottingham Forest duo Kenny Burns and John Robertson.
Ernst Happel, the Austrian coach who won the European Cup with Feyenoord in 1970 and is now in charge of Holland, makes one change to the side that drew 0-0 with Peru. Arie Haan makes way for Johnny Rep.
2.15pm GMT
Scotland: Alan Rough, Stuart Kennedy, Willie Donachie, Bruce Rioch, Tom Forsyth, Martin Buchan, Archie Gemmill, Asa Hartford, Joe Jordan, Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish.
Subs: Jim Blyth, Derek Johnstone, Lou Macari, John Robertson, Kenny Burns.
Holland: Jan Jongbloed, Wim Suurbier, Wim Rijsbergen, Ruud Krol, Jan Poortvliet, Johan Neeskens, Wim Jansen, Johnny Rep, Rene van der Kerkhof, Willy van der Kerkhof, Rob Rensenbrink.
Subs: Piet Schrijvers, Piet Wildschut, Johan Boskamp, Dick Nanninga, Ernie Brandts.
2.10pm GMT
Style guide for pedants: No doubt some time in the far-off future we’ll all get used to using the correct terminology: Netherlands instead of Holland, the latter merely being a region of the former. But this is where we are right now. Fifa are using Holanda for their on-screen graphics, and commentators are saying Holland with their mouths. It’s how we roll in 1978, get with the times, grandchild. While we’re on the subject, there’s still a hard J in both Ajax and Juventus. We’ll catch on one day, I’m sure.
12.21pm GMT
A fortnight ago, as Scotland arrived in Cordoba and approached their training bolthole atop the hills of Alta Gracia, the clutch on the team bus burnt out. Amid farcical scenes, the misfiring jalopy had to be nudged the last few hundred yards up the street by a truck travelling behind. As harbingers go, this one’s been a doozy.
In retrospect, perhaps they’d have been better off putting the thing into neutral and letting it run all the way back down the mountain before getting the first available return flight. Because ever since then, nothing at all has gone the way of Ally MacLeod and his beleaguered squad. The selección escocesa is brimming with world-class talent - reigning European club champions Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness of Liverpool; Archie Gemmill, who has just won the First Division with Nottingham Forest; the well-regarded Manchester United pair of Joe Jordan and Martin Buchan - so hopes of returning home with “a medal of some sort” weren’t too fanciful. It seemed a fair-enough shout at the time: at the outset, they were the fifth favourites with the bookies, behind Brazil, Argentina, West Germany and Holland. But you can bet your bottom peso that Ally now wishes he had kept his mouth shut and his feet on the ground, and hadn’t tempted the gods and goddesses of fate in such a brazen, reckless manner.
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