Tartan Army should not abandon hope yet

Published Date: 22 August 2008 LEAVING Hampden Park after Scotland's goalless draw with Northern Ireland the other night, it was not difficult to form the impression that, in terms of making the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, widespread expectation may have been replaced by hope. It was as if the collective realisation had dawned that the often thrilling events of the Euro 2008 qualifying is as good as it gets, that they represent a peak of achievement that is unlikely to be repeated. The nature of the Scots' generally bland and largely fragmented performance will have been mainly responsible for this abrupt change of mood, the majority of observers concluding that the flaws – most notably in the matter of exerting and then exploiting genuine pressure on an Irish team reduced to ten men for the last 34 minutes – are too... [read full story]