SCOTLAND: Leighton, Claderwood, Hendry, Boyd, McNamara (Lambert 45), Billy McKinlay, Burley, Collins, Tosh McKinlay, Jackson (Gallacher, 76), McGinlay (McCoist 84). Other Subs: Walker, Dodds, Gemmill, Whyte
SWEDEN: Ravelli, Nilsson, P. Andersson, Bjorklund, Sundgren, Schwarz, Zetterberg (A. Andersson, 76), Alexandersson (Larsson, 68), Thern, Blomqvist, Dahlin (K. Andersson, 17)
Referee: Jose Garcia Aranda (Spain).
Match Report
Report prepared by Scott Kelly
Close on 2,000 Swedes had made the trip to Glasgow for this crunch encounter which would surely sort out the men from the boys in Group 4. Given recent FIFA decisions, it appeared as if the Swedes were happy that the decision taken regarding the abandoned match against Estonia had gone against Scotland and a replay ordered. The casting vote in the bizzare affair had been taken by a Swede ! Surely not an impartial decision on his part - ordering a replay and suspending our captain Gary McAllister for this crunch match ! Scots were would up further when the Swedes unveiled thier banner stating that "Lennart Johnassen is god". They even got their national anthem booed for this. However, despite this minor breach of etiquette a good atmosphere between the fans was apparent with mixed groups drinking in bars around the city both Pre and Post match.
As for the match, the teams kicked off and Sweden immediately looked dangerous firing a shot wide from long range. The lively start saw Boltons John McGinlay run onto a neatly played Darren Jackson dummy on 8 mins to slide the opening goal past Ravelli. 1-0 Scotland. The crowd roared appreciation for this early heartening goal and chants of "FIFA, FIFA, Who the fuck are FIFA ??" could be heard ringing round the stadium - perhaps this was justly deserved given Lennart Johnassons biased decision is the recent FIFA committee meeting.
Sweden seemed to be taking time to get going although a marked improvement could be seen when Kennet Andersson replaced a very lacklustre Martin Dahlin after 15 minutes. The Swedish attack seemed to take heart from this change and more long range efforts were peppering the Scottish goal area (although several were wide and proved to be little trouble for Jim Leighton).
John McGinlay and Darren Jackson (who ran his heart out and may now finally deserve his jersey if he will contuinue to play like that !) continued to work hard up front for little reward. Colin Hendry was rocksteady in defence and made numerous well timed and solid clearances.
Half time amusement saw the Ibrox 'radio' attempt to recreate the Wembley 1996 atmosphere by playing Abba songs for the Swedes !!
The remainder of the match saw Sweden pound the Scottish defence with Colin Hendry having to save our skins on a few occasions and 38 year old Jim Leighton making one of the best performance of his career. Leighton made a number of incrediable saves including some from point blank range from both Blomqvist and Kennet Andersson.
McCoist came on for an exhausted Jackson with 10 minutes to go and twice came close. However, Sweden continued to pepper the Scots goal and given the balance of play, the Scots were already very, very luckly to be holding onto their 1-0 lead !
Verdict: A poor performance by the Scots. A win was not really deserved by given recent events and our bad luck in EURO '96, that is one back for the biased decision from Lennart Johanssons FIFA committee.