Scotland’s Clarke on McTominay and making history
We hear from Scotland head coach Steve Clarke on his star player and the incredible goals that secured the team's first FIFA World Cup in 28 years.
Scotland head coach Steve Clarke speaks to FIFA
Relives the wondergoals against Denmark that secured qualification
Addresses Scott McTominay’s importance and the challenge of breaking new ground
It is often mentioned that Scotland are returning to the FIFA World Cup™ for the first time since 1998.
What is occasionally overlooked is that, until Steve Clarke took charge, that post-98 drought had extended to all major tournaments – 11 of them in total.
Fast forward seven years and the Tartan Army are marching to their third competition of the Clarke era. It represents a transformation in fortunes of which the 62-year-old is understandably proud.
As he told FIFA: “When I first took the job, there was a bit of apathy towards the team because we hadn't qualified for a major tournament in so long. Now suddenly we've qualified for three out of four. I think the supporters appreciate what the players have managed to achieve.”
The scenes of elation that followed the famous 4-2 win over Denmark, which sealed the Scots’ World Cup return, spoke to those supporters’ esteem and gratitude.
Now, having arrested that sequence of qualifying failures, Clarke has another historical burden to cast off. Scotland, after all, have competed at 12 previous major tournaments and never once progressed beyond the group stage.
To make history as the first, Clarke’s team will need to come through a section that includes Haiti, Morocco and Brazil, the tournament’s most successful team. In this interview, he speaks about that challenge, relives the wonder goals that secured qualification and assesses his star midfielder.
As I said when the draw was made, I’m pleased there are no European teams in our group. The World Cup for me is the chance to play against different teams from different [parts of the world], and we have three teams from three different continents, which is great. You don't need to speak too much about Brazil because everybody knows what they bring to the World Cup, and what they bring to football in general. Then Morocco, semi-finalists at the last World Cup – a fantastic team. That's another really tough game for us. And Haiti, who’ve qualified for the first time since 1974. They managed to win their section, which was a great achievement in such a difficult moment [for the country]. They'll be dangerous opponents. So yeah, it’s tough group, but a group that for me has the essence of the World Cup.
The fact it went down to the last game, it was like a play-off final. We had to win against a good side, so we knew it would be tough. But the crowd was up for it, the team was up for it, and it turned out to be a very special night. It was a strange game too. Normally games like those are pretty cagey. But I think the early goal from Scott McTominay took the edginess off.
I've been in the game a long time but that was one of those moments when you think, ‘Wow, did that just happen?’ And then Scott’s celebration, when he runs past everybody looking for his mum in the crowd, was special. It was a great way to start the game. Probably if I put my coach’s head back on, I'm thinking, ‘Ok, it's a long time to hold on to a 1-0 lead against a very good side’. And we suffered a bit from that because we retreated a little bit too early, when we should have had more attacking intent.
We'd had the big high when Kieran [Tierney] made it 3-2 but you know that you've got five or six minutes of injury time to go, and what could still go wrong. Denmark had already come back in the game twice, so we knew they were capable of scoring even with ten men (Rasmus Kristensen having been sent off). When we had the counter-attack with Kenny [McLean], there was an actually an overload on the right and the left. I'm thinking, ‘Just make the pass, see the game out, get the ball in the opposition half’. But obviously Kenny saw something different and, when the ball was traveling, it was almost like time stood still for two or three seconds. Then you realise the goalkeeper's not getting there and the ball's going in the net. It was a crazy way to end a special night.
Energy, drive and obviously a lot of talent. Scott could probably complain about me because for a long time I played him as a central defender. I was looking for a different way to play and I decided at the time that the best way forward was to go to a back five. I wanted a killer in the middle - a nuts-and-bolts strong centre-half who would head it and kick it - but on either side of that I felt I needed players who were comfortable to play with the ball. So on the right was Scott, and Kieran Tierney gave me balance on the left. And for a while it worked. Obviously Scott wasn't showing his full potential, but he was willing to sacrifice himself for the team and play that position. Over time though, teams started to work out and understand the system we were playing, and I lost Kieran to injury, so we decided to go back to a four. When we did that, I spoke to Scott and said I’m going to play you further forward, more as an attacking midfielder, and suddenly he started scoring a lot of goals. His career has obviously kicked on and he’s gone to Italy and become Serie A player of the year – the first Scotsman to do that. It’s a fantastic accolade and well deserved for a great player.
I suppose the most obvious one is that we don't give up. We play to the end, and you see that. The 2-1 victory in Norway, which was a massive step on the road to EURO 2024, was down to two late goals. We had the same in the Denmark game that qualified us for the World Cup. This is a team that just loves to do well for the country. Sometimes they’ll play very well, sometimes they won't play so well. But no-one can ever question their commitment.