SCOTLAND SMOOTHLY DEAL WITH DANES

 

(Image taken from Sky Sports)

 

England were meant to face Netherlands at Wembley. Slight problem, a bunch of morons decided to rip London to pieces and ultimately it was decided that the safest thing to do was to cancel the match. Bummer but by the time I heard the news I was more concerned about the safety of old mates in the capital. Still it would surely have been a tasty encounter and arguably it was an embarrassment that such a game had to be called off. It was not the only game to be called off though, a Ghana vs Nigeria match at Vicarage Road was also scratched, as were a few Carling Cup encounters. As was a Premiership match on the weekend, let's hope any further damage to football isn't too bad, and more importantly, that we've seen the last of this mess.

In the meantime, the last time Scotland faced Denmark was back in '04 when Berti Vogts was the Tatan Army's gaffer. This being the Vogts era, the result wasn't the greatest, Scotland losing 1-0 at the Parken Stadion. For the last time the Scots managed to beat the Danes, you have to go much further back that you'd expect. It was the Euro 1976 qualifying Group 4 campaign. The Scots did the double over the Danes, winning 1-0 at the Idraetsparken with Joe Harper(then playing for Hibs) hitting the winner. Then came a 3-1 win at Hampden Park with Kenny Dalgleish(then playing for Celtic), Bruce Rioch(then playing for Derby) and Ted McDougall, (an ex-MUFC striker that was by that point playing for Norwich) hitting the net.

Fastforward to the present day and Craig Levein's men were coming off the match of a respectable performance in the Carling Nations Cup. Next on the horizion was the resumption of Euro 2012 qualifiers but before that came what looked to be an interesting test against Denmark at Hampden Park. Injuries made Levein's preparation for this encounter less than ideal and a Glasgow downpour provided another headache. The Scots went 4-5-1, Caldwell and Blackpool's Steven Crainey in central defence with Danny Wilson left back. Morrison right mid, Brown, Adam and Naismith centre mid, Leeds's Robert Snodgrass making his international debut at left mid, Miller up front.

History clearly counted for zippo on this occassion as the Scots were on the front foot from the start. However the Danish defence proved itself equal to these early efforts and tried their hand at the other end only to come up empty. The Tartan Army were then on their feet though, a 22nd minute Adam freekick forcing William Kvist to put the ball into his own net. Denmark replied though with a Christian Eriksen freekick in the 31st minute that really should have been dealt with but wasn't. The Scots still retook the lead though with a 44th minute Miller cross that was headed in by Snodgrass from a crazy angle and so far it was pretty impressive.

The Danes certainly banged on the door in the early stages of the second half but ultimately it proved to be nothing that the Scots couldn't handle, and the game started to wind down with both managers trying some fresh legs for size. The latter stages of the contest were still very much a Danish show though but their shooting tended to leave something to be desired. That didn't stop the Danes from continuing to try and their efforts included their goalie coming up for a last second corner but in the end that counted for zippo. It was a good evening to be a Scottish football fan and Levein must fancy his chances for the next couple of games.

Elsewhere, Wales faced Australia at the Millenium Stadium. It's an encounter that sounds more like a rugby match but the Socceroos have a good bit of credibility nowadays and with the Welsh never really getting going in the first half, Tim Cahill opened the scoring. Robbie Kruse made it two for the Aussies early in the 2nd half in what looked to be an embarrassment for the home side. The Welsh pulled one back through Cardiff's Dacey Blake but weren't able to find an equaliser. It was not what Gary Speed had had in mind and he was left scratching his head over why his side put on such a dissapointing performance on this occasion.

It wasn't just friendlies taking place though as Northern Ireland faced the Faroe Islands in Euro 2012 qualifying group C at Windsor Park. Aaron HUghes opened the scoring for NI though the back end of the first half started to get messy. The men in green were still in control though and went on to bury their opponents in the second half, Steven Davis getting their second before Celtic's Patrick McCourt grabbed to goals late on, his reward for effectively running the game. That means that NI move up to 3rd in the group, still two points behind Slovenia and the plaoff mixer but they do have a game in hand. At the moment though, they are not going to POLUKR.

Back to friendly action and the Republic of Ireland faced Croatia at the Aviva Stadium. The Irish had the edge in the 1st half in terms of chances but not many from either side hit the target before the teams came in at half time to reload. It was the Croatian's turn to turn up the heat in the second half but they ran into the same problems the Irish had in the first and in the end, a stalemate was about as much as either side deserved. Given that Geovanni Trappatoni had to deal with a lot of injuries pre-match, maybe he won't have been complaining too much about this result. Those that were watching this contest certainly would have done though.

Given that there was some Euro 2012 action going on though, it's a good idea to have a look at the playoff mixer. Right now the teams in there are, Belgium, Russia, Slovenia, Belarus, Sweden, Croatia, Montenegro, Denmark and Czech Republic. Out of that lot it's Sweden that are best of the bunch, currently two points ahead of 2nd place Croatia and on course for POLUKR.

And England and ROI are still a step ahead of the lot of them.

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