Conference trucks::football;1

 31.8.1996  Austria  - Scotland
 9.10.1996  Sweden   - Austria
 9.11.1996  Austria  - Latvia
 2.4.1997   Scotland - Austria
 30.4.1997  Austria  - Estonia
 8.6.1997   Latvia   - Austria
 20.8.1997  Estonia  - Austria
 6.9.1997   Austria  - Sweden
 10.9.1997  Belarus  - Austria
 11.10.1997 Austria  - Belarus

    Can anyone please provide the Scotland fixtures?
    
    Ta
    
    

    Austria 0-0 Scotland
    
    Scotland should be pleased with this result, although their usual lack
    of offense should be worrying Craig Brown....
    
    Ray....
    
    ps....Is it true that Scotland can't use Hampden Park for their home
    games for the foreseeable future?...

>    Austria 0-0 Scotland
    
I made the huge miscalculation of watching (most of) this game. Two really 
ordinary sides, without a spark of imagination between them. I didn't see a 
keeper make a single save. Fair result, neither team deserves to qualify.

grahame

	Re .4

	Ray,

	Due to the re-development of the South Stand at Hampden, it is 
	unlikely that any sub-let matches will be hosted in the Stadium
	until the contractors have completed the new accommodation, which
	is anticipated in about 1.5 years time.

	Rgds,

	David.

    Estonia 0-0 Scotland
    
    Rubbish....nuff said....
    
    Ray....

  I think rubbish is a bit flattering to the Scots Ray. Is was
  absolutely appalling. Nobody seemed to care, everyone was strolling
  around without a clue what to do. 

  The only thing Scotland could be proud of last night was the fans who
  after rightly booing the Scottish team off the field applauded the
  Estonia players who had worked hard and with very limited talent or
  fitness had fairly comfortably keep the Scots out.

  Rgds, Steve

  PS can we start a campaign to get rid of the the Scottish
  commentators? All they keep going on about was how the ball wouldn't
  bounce for Scotland (it did), and how unfair the Ref was (he wasn't),
  and how bad the pitch was (poor but perfectly playable), and how
  brilliant the Estonia keeper was (a good competent performance with
  one good save, nothing more), and how Estonia not turning up for the
  first match has robbed Scotland of 2 points, etc, etc... Pathetic


    I think the song being sung by the fans as they left the stadium just
    about summed it up....
    
    " We're Scotland's Tartan Army .... an' we're PISSSHH !!!"
    
    Have to agree with previous comments ... the game was dire!!
    
    Estonia started quite brightly and had a few shots at goal, mostly from
    quite a way out. Scotland couldn't put more than 2 or 3 passes together
    but gradually managed to work their way in to it and get on top.
    
    A few chances missed in the first half but we thought that it was only
    a question of time till they scored. Looked forward to the second half
    - it couldn't be worse than the first , especially as Scotland would
    play towards the goal that the fans were standing behind.
    
    Wrong! The second half was abysmal... play was almost totally confined
    to Estonia's half but we hardly created a chance. There was very little
    width to the play so the result was Estonia could pack their central
    defence area. Punting the ball up to big Dunc seemed to be the only
    ploy and they continued even when it was obvious he wasn't winning that
    much of the ball...when he did win it he didn't seem to have many options
    other than head weakly towards goal.
    
    I don't understand why Ally didn't come on earlier. When you're
    playning against a packed defence you need someone who will react
    quickly and just have a pop at goal. He may not be the fastest thing on
    two legs but at least he has the natural instinct of a striker. There
    isn't always time to control the ball and set it up.
    
    Finally - when we were queueing up for the tickets some guy came over
    to offer us four. Methinks - is this a a tout looking for a profit?
    What - at a Scotland v Estonia game in Monaco ? Naw !
    
    He offered us the tickets for free .... apparently they had met " 4
    crackin' wummen the night before the game and invited them to it".
    Anyway the young ladies never turned up and there were these guys who
    had splashed out 20 francs a ticket ( about 2 pounds 30 pence )... they
    wur fair black - affruntit !!
    
    So we got 4 tickets for free..... an' we we're still robbed!
    
    Sad movies! Sad , sad movies! Still they cannae play that bad again...
    can they?
    
    Don
     
    
     
    
    
    

    Can anyone enter Estonias record in international football please. I'd
    really like to put this result into perspective.
    
    Tony
    

You're still top - but I bet Heribert has a big smile on today:

Scotland	4 2 2 0 3-0 8
-----------------------------
Austria		3 2 1 0 3-1 7
Sweden		4 2 0 2 7-4 6
Estonia		3 1 1 1 1-1 4
Belarus		4 1 1 2 3-7 4
Latvia		4 0 1 3 3-7 1

g

    Is it 1 or 2 teams who qualify from this group?
    
    Cheers,
    
    	Rick.,

Good result for Austria !

  1. Scotland      	4  2 2 0  3:0   8
  2. Austria      	3  2 1 0  3:1   7
  3. Sweden        	4  2 0 2  7:4   6
  4. Estonia        	3  1 1 1  1:1   4
  5. W.Russia     	4  1 1 2  3:7   4
  6. Latvia       	4  0 1 3  3:7   1

     Re .76 (Rick)

    >Is it 1 or 2 teams who qualify from this group?
    
    Wish it was that simple.....
    
    The winners from the 9 groups qualify, plus the best second place of
    all the nine groups. The other 8 teams who finished second go into
    a knockout to reduce the number to 4. 
    
    Richard (info from Ferdy)
    

Yes Scotland were rubbish, yes Scotland were shite, and yes they deserved to be
boo'd of the park
BUT
Estonia did not deserve to be applauded off.
Basic rule of football - team who scores most wins. Therefore objective of the
game is to score goals !

Objective of teams like Estonia, Lichenstein, Luxemburg, San Marino, Faroe Isles
etc etc is to play 10 man defence, bore everyone silly and 'win' a 0-0 draw. If
they are lucky they will meet a second rate team (like Scotland) and maybe sneak
a last minute winner (As Faroe Isles did to Austria a seasons back).

Until these smaller teams can go out and at least try to win a game, they should
be restricted to a lessor nations qualifying tournament. The top two can then
join the rest for the world cup/euro championship qualifiers.

Danny.

(and before any says this is sour grapes, wrong. Scotland were crap and got more
than they deserved. Good luck to Estonia and the rest who want to play that way,
but I will NOT be buying a ticket for the return at Rugby Park. I'll save my
cash to watch Austria at Parkhead - at least that will be two teams trying to
win from the start of the match)

    >>Until these smaller teams can go out and at least try to win a game,
    
      As a Scot, do the words Seven seconds, San Marino, Stuart Pearce
      having a  'mare ring any bells. 
    
      I would have thought you'd still be laughing!
    
    
                	Stretch.

    Two points, weren't Scotland considered heroes and were cheered off the
    park after a 0-0 draw during Euro `96??
    
    And didn't Estonia spurn chances to take the lead last night?
    
    Tony

Teh heh! Nice one Danny,

Estonia had 6 or 7 good scoring chances on the break and also
particularly at the start of the second half put some pressure on, as a
team, with several panics in the Scottish goal.

Estonia played about as well as their skill would allow and Scotland
simply did not have enough football brains to beat them. And besides
sport is about the taking part not winning. Last night should have been
no more than a fun trip for Scotland with a comfortable 3 or 4 nil win
and 3 points in the bag.

Rgds, Steve.

PS I just noticed that Danny is the only Scot to enter a note on last
night game unless I'm mistaken. I guess we will have to wait for the
England game to hear from Craig "Zola" Douglas, and Meat Pounder.


    
    I'm lost for words....f**k me Brazil would look shite against a team
    who do nothing but defend the line....so lets stop talking about us
    being crap on the night (true or otherwise)...I don't know HOW you rate
    the opposition's performance when a team does this stuff.
    
    Like I said....this scenario was likely after the injustice served at
    the FIFA meeting. Wonder how Middlesborough will fare with their appeal
    for having points deducted for non-appearance.....just keep yer fingers
    crossed that you don't get the same "unbiased", "no interest in the
    outcome" chairman WE got at that f*****n farcical forum.
    
    Other teams in the group now benefit....here's hoping they come up
    against the same piss-poor tactics....and make the same cod of it that
    we did.....
    
    Trevor

    re 82
    
    Steve...you just got me pissed-off. Just for that I hope you get yer
    fuc*in arse's whopped by the wops tonight. You arrogant SOB's really
    build yourselves up don't you....lets hope the fall is as long and hard
    as you deserve.
    
    And another thing....what the hell are you doing with a Scottish node
    name like IRNBRU ? !   How DARE you send a Scotland-critical note from
    there !!!
    
    Trevor......FREEEEEEEDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM

    Not a happy bunny!
    
    
    
    				Stretch.

    Fact is, I can't see anything so bad about .82 (with the possible
    exception of the somewhat provocative P.S.;-)
    
    C'mon Trevor, t'is only a game (just try saying that to me at 11.00
    tonight if the result goes the wrong way...and see what you get;-)).
    
    Dom
    
    P.S. Trevor, you obviously weren't noting on here the day after the 
    EC96 semi-finals. Either that or you've been skipping your phosphorus
    ration of late...     

    
    Look Dom...when people bring facts into football, especially facts
    about Scotland...then I'm gonna get mad !
    
    Trevor  %^}
    
    PS...use my name in jest if you must....but how many of YOU have your
    name in every Macdonalds restaurant huh ?????
    
    sngd
    Quarter !

RE 82:
After the England highlights on Sportsnight I decided to take the pain of
watching their review of Scotland the previous night.

Yes they showed a couple of Estonia breakaways. But in the 5 minutes they showed
the Estonian keeper made twelve saves. Andy Goram did not touch the ball. The
only way Estonia could have played more negatively would have been to not turn.
Oops  - just remembered they've tried that tactic before !

Danny.

    Be satisfied with a point, Danny. Some teams play like that and come
    away with a 1-0 (sorry, 0-1) win ;-)
    
    Dom

re. 76

re. 78

Richard ,

I hope , the info from Ferdy is wrong.

9 group winners are qualified.
the four second placed of the groups with 6 teams are qualified

I don't know of a knockout of the other 2nd.

Heribert

    
    Just read that France intends to have fences around the pitches at the
    WC next year. They say they are not ready to have the play are open to
    the stands ??????  Curious now, I know all the fences in th UK were
    removed, whats the situation/norm in other countries ? Still in use ?
    Is France only doing this at the WC or do they still use fences at
    regular league/cup games ?
    
    Trevor

    	Trevor,
    
    	There are fences around all the pitches in France. 
    	There are several reasons invoked not to remove them: 
    	- pitches "invasions" are relatively frequent (despite the fences)
          fans are believed not to observe the discipline to stay on the
    	  seats (in particular in the south of France).
    	- presence of fences is a police requirement, as police claims they
    	  would be obliged to put on much more policemen otherwise
    	- removal of fences would cost a lot, specially if done only for
    	  the world cup
    
    	In fact, the best solution would be the one used at the (new)
        stadium of Nimes, that has fences, but the fences can automatically
    	fall down on a single button pressure in case of crowd panic..
    	But nobody wants to make the investment... 

    
    Thanks for the clarification entries. Don't know why, but I thought the
    removal of fences had "spread" all over. While it was the subject of
    the Taylor report in Britain...and adopted at the grounds, I thought
    other countries had done the same voluntarily...clearly not.
    
    Trevor

Tonight the most important game for Austria in this group.
After winning in Sweden, the chance only exists any longer, if Austria
don't loose in Scotland.

5 players of the winning team in Sweden are injured, a great problem for the
Austrian team.


Scotland: Leighton - Burley,
Calderwood, Hendry, Boyd - McStay,
G.McAllister, Collin, T.McKinley -
Jackson (McGinlay), Gallacher

Austria: Konsel - Feiersinger -
Schoettel, Pfeffer - Schopp, Heraf,
Stoeger, F.Aigner (Maehlich), Wetl -
Polster, Herzog

Heribert

Heribert,
	it will be interesting to see if the Scotland team is the one you list.
This morning I heard Brown hint at various names, but did not reveal his full
team. Do you have inside info - if so whats the result.

Danny.

    Scotland 1 - Austria 2
    
    Cheers,
    
    	Rick. :->>>>>>>>>>>>.

    
    What time is the kick off ...I think the match up will be a little more
    interesting than Germany v Albania....then again I will try and get the
    Ireland v Macedonia...Poland v Italy...Mmmm...I'm sure the satellite
    gets swung around a bit tonight...as long as that Hale Bopp doesn't get
    in the way!!!
    
    Dezzz.

re - 2

Rick, You are a friend, but I don't believe, Austria can win today.

Austria will wait , only defending - 0:0 or 1:1 could be the best.

Heribert

Dezzz,

Kickoff is 9:00 p.m. CET

    >Rick, You are a friend, but I don't believe, Austria can win today.

    Well since I share a house with two blokes from Scotland... ( who never
    support England at football )... there is no way I'm going to support
    Scotland... 

    I think if Austria don't become intimidated by the crowd then they
    could do well... & if the Austrians gets an early goal then I think the
    Scots could cave in... ;->

    Cheers,

    	Rick.

Any news on which channel it will be shown, if any ?

Mad

In the UK BBC have chosen to only show highlights and Sky have no interest.

With Scotland playing 13 of the last 14 games without conceding a goal and still
having problems finding a regular scorer up front a no score or one goal game
looks favourite (preferably with the one to us).

Danny.

    I guess it will be shown on BBC Scotland... I don't think its been
    shown on any English Channels....
    
    Eurosport are showing France vs Sweden.
    
    Cheers,
    
    	Rick.

    
    Result - Scotland 2  Austria 0  (1-1 HT)
    
    Kevin Gallacher scored both 24 & 77 mins.  Haven't seen details.
    Appreciate "match report" from home.....
    
    Trevor

    
    
     re last - 1-1 HT!, are you sure?
    
     Scotland continued their superb defensive record in last night's 2-0
    win over Austria at Parkhead.
    
     Since March 1995, Scotland have played 15 competitive matches; Euro96
    qualifiers, Euro96 and WC98 qualifiers. In these 15 games they have
    only conceded 2 goals, both against England in Euro96, which puts them
    at number 1 in world terms.
    
     I suppose we've got something to cheer about, even though it's
    probably the least exciting Scotland team ever. However, if they
    qualify for WC98, most Scots will be more than happy and once they
    start scoring goals, they'll be unbeatable :-).
    
    Danny.

    
    Ooops !!  Thanks Danny.....it was 1-0 at Ht of course !!!!!!

The rumour is Dunc the Drunc is going to miraculously recover from his groin
strain and play for Everton this week. Comparing the games he has turned up for
and the style we've used when he cann't be a***d to show, I say to Craig Brown
leave him out for ever.

With him we try to recall the days of Joe Jordan and punt in high balls but the
drunc is not a Jordan class player. Without him, we look less predictable and at
set pieces can always rely on Hendry to turn up.


Danny.

    Let's face it, even Scott Booth has a better record for Scotland than
    Dunc the Drunk, so give Dodds a break, he may become a hero, (tho I
    doubt it!)....
    
    A draw and Scotland should be (almost) there in 98....
    
    Ray....

     
    > " so give Dodds a break "
    
       Ray, you pick on form players e.g Paul Wright not guys who've hardly
       kicked a ball for weeks and scored one goal in 3 months!!! 
       
       Anyway here's hoping we can get at least a draw which should almost
       ensure qualification!!
    
       Iain.. 
       

    Heribert, How do you think Austria will get on tonight? They are
    playing Estonia aren't they?
    
    Cheers,
    
    	Rick.

Rick, You know, I am no optimistic, but each other result than winning
would be a bad surprise.

Heribert

    
    The biggest issue will be the teams arriving at the same park at the
    same time %^)
    
    Trevor

    
    Latvia beat Belarus 2:0  This result is a good one for...erm..Latvia.
    In terms of the overall group standings it means that...erm....
    ..Belarus are in the erm.. relegation zone with Latvia now. Both sides
    appear to have blown their promotion chances...mmnnn, sorry, wrong
    report...the score is correct though   %^)
    
    Vladavir Fukofski 

    
    Ah sh*t.....Sweden 2 Scotland 1
    
    Followed the game on scotland net.....Sweden seem to deserve the win.
    Scotland were crap until late. 
    
    Few late call-offs AGAIN....get them hunted out of the squad !!
    Especially Ferguson the pidgeon fancying drunk.
    
    Trevor

Watched the highlights on Sky last night. Scotland looked lucky to only have 2 
put past them, it could have been 6-7. 

Scotland should have thawed Jim Lieghton out from cryogenic storage earlier, He 
looked great.
 I think they need someone up front, can't remember the hopeless statistic from 
Alan Hanson last nite, but they aint scoring enough.
Still looks ok to go thru.


Mad
P.S. Why does Alan Hanson harp on about the 4 point gap Scotland have got at the 
top of the group, they have played 3 more games than most. 8-)

p.p.s. Should be a show stopper against Macedonia then !!*-)

    If Scotland win their last 3 games, (2 v Belarus, 1 v Latvia), which
    they should do, then Sweden would need to win in Austria, (and their
    remaining home games), to win the group, so I think it still looks good
    for Scotland....
    
    Ray.....
    
    ps....McAllister must go, he's too slow and just can't cut it anymore
    at this level....

    
    
    
    Well of the back of a devistating performance against Malta (sigh..)
    I reckon we'll be lucky to get a draw against the mighty Belarus.
      Also I heard were only taking a squad of 19 players and 3 of them
    are goalies. I can only hope and pray we don't make a complete and
    uter arse of ourselves (ala costa rica)
    
                   gary..