For reasons unbeknowns, Scotland kicked off their Euro 2020 qualification campaign at 3pm on a Thursday afternoon against Kazakhstan.
In comical fashion, Alex McLeish’s side found themselves a goal behind after six minutes…
6′ | GOAL for Kazakhstan! A ball over the top for Pertsukh and he volleys it past Bain. [1-0]
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) 21 March 2019
The Scots then managed to hold a steadfast back-line for another four minutes before conceding a second against a team ranked 117th in the world, just below Mozambique and Mauritania.
(For the record, Scotland are 40th in the FIFA world rankings – or at least were before kick-off ).
10′ | GOAL for Kazakhstan! A through ball is finished by Vorogovskiy into the bottom corner. [2-0]
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) 21 March 2019
Sure enough, a further goal came five minutes into the second half, with Scotland ultimately slumping to a diabolical 3-0 defeat out in Astana…
FULL TIME | Kazakhstan 3-0 Scotland.
A disappointing night in Astana in our opening UEFA EURO 2020 Group I Qualifier.#KAZSCO pic.twitter.com/4A0qRufdeu
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) 21 March 2019
Any if you happen to be sat there wondering if the Kazakh’s are one of those ‘European dark horse’ outfits then allow us to inform you that, no, they are not.
In fact, the Hawks have won just four competitive international matches since 2009: against Azerbaijan, the Faroe Islands, Latvia and Andorra.
They are not good. Not at all.
This is the men who are beating us 3 nil 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/14MlQttzCm
— Broxi Bear 🐻 (@BRX1B3AR) 21 March 2019
A humbling in the truest sense of the word. As per the BBC Sport match rankings, Scott McTominay was Scotland’s man of the match with a score of 2.69 out of 10 – and he only came on as a substitute in the 70th minute.
Speaking after the game, McLeish was at least honest about his side’s performance:
It was an extremely poor game.
With the mighty San Marino (201st in the world rankings) up next, there’s no guarantee the Scots will finish their opening double-header with anything to show for it at all.
Woeful, woeful, woeful.