Scotland v Belarus Hampden, 3.0They have grown accustomed to gawping at improbable twists in Scotland recently. Memories are still raw of the final three minutes of last season, when Rangers overtook Celtic to win the Premier League after Motherwell came from behind to beat the Hoops at Fir Park. Now the national team must attempt their own miraculous recovery. Two victories, against Belarus today and Slovenia on Wednesday, and a slip-up for Norway in their final two fixtures could hoist the Scots, remarkably, into the play-offs.
If the prospect still sounds unlikely it is gaining credence with each authoritative performance. "Stranger things have happened," admitted the Scotland captain Barry Ferguson, who was playing for Rangers that excruciatingly tense afternoon in May when confirmation of Celtic's demise filtered through. "You're left hoping for something to happen, and you've got to believe it will. But all we can do is concentrate on securing six points from our two games, then we'll see what happens to Norway."
There is a sense that the momentum now is Scottish. While Norway and Slovenia have stumbled, Walter Smith's side have steadily regained poise and purpose to emerge from the mishmash near the foot of a mediocre group. The frustration remains that the manager has been forced to play catch-up after the inadequate performances under Berti Vogts in the first three qualifying fixtures. The resurgence since has been remarkable. Scaling the heights of second place would be a staggering achievement.
Yet Smith, backed by a virtually fully fit squad, has faced new dilemmas this week. With the exception of the home fixture with Moldova, his four other qualifying games have been approached with the desire to retain solidity, any attacking ambition sought largely on the break.
"We'll be playing a different type of game altogether from what we've experienced previously," Smith said. "We've had a lot of matches where we've been able to set ourselves out defensively, but we know that what we face in the next few games is a change - we've got to go out and apply pressure to win the match.
"We've made a wee bit of a progression playing in a certain style since I came in and we can't stray too much from that. It would be daft for us to change things dramatically."
Wigan's Lee McCulloch will play at Nigel Quashie's expense this afternoon, with Christian Dailly shielding the defence, but that does not necessarily suggest a defensive outlook. So impressive have the Scots been that for a 15-minute period before half-time in Oslo last month they were almost untouchable. "You had to chuckle to yourself," said Ferguson, who pinged his passes while locals cursed in frustration. "You might be right in saying that we put together more passes than in my previous 25 caps.
"We'll need to be patient here. It could be like the Lithuania game in Euro 2004 qualifying when we had to wait until midway through the second half to score, and it might go to 85 minutes at nothing-nothing, but as long as we get there in the end that's all that matters."
Patience will come laced with apprehension. Five Scots are one booking away from missing Wednesday's final qualifier in Slovenia, but Smith has been desperate to keep minds focused solely on the Belarus game. "The only factor as far as I'm concerned is how we do," the manager added. "This game is the only match that matters. If we don't win this one we'll travel next week without any real chance, but if we win both we can only hope that Norway crack under the pressure." Another breathless finale beckons.
Guardian Service
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
SCOTLAND: Gordon, Alexander, Davidson, Pressley, Weir, Dailly, Ferguson, Hartley, Fletcher, Miller, Quashie.
BELARUS: Zhevnov; Tarlovsky, Ostrovsky, Kovba, Lavrik; Gleb, Kulchy, Korytko, Kalachyov; Kutuzov, Bulygads.
Referee: Zsolt Szabo (Hungary)
