Steve Clarke wants Scotland’s supporters to “keep the faith” despite the Tartan Army being thrashed 5-1 by Germany in Friday’s Euro 2024 opener.
Steve Clarke expects his Scotland side to show that they are “better than that” after losing 5-1 to Germany on Friday night.
The Tartan Army went into the Euro 2024 opener at the Allianz Arena having only posted one win in nine matches, that success coming against international minnows Gibraltar.
That lack of form and Germany’s superior class was on show as the tournament hosts breezed past Clarke’s side, who were not helped by the first-half sending off of Ryan Porteous.
Scotland were already two goals down when Porteous was handed a straight red card for a two-footed challenge inside the penalty area, and they were fortunate to only lose by a four-goal margin.
An Antonio Rudiger own goal gave Scotland fans something to cheer in the closing stages, yet attention now switches to trying to collect points from games against Switzerland and Hungary.
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Clarke calls for unity with Scotland fans
While there was naturally disappointment at the manner of the defeat on Friday, Clarke has called on the nation’s fans – who are in Germany in their droves – to reset and back the team against Switzerland on Wednesday.
Speaking after the game, as quoted by The Sun, Clarke said: “I’ve had tough nights before. I’ll cope. I believe the players will get over this quickly. I have never doubted my players and I never will. What would I say to the fans?
“Keep the faith and we’ll see you at the next game. It was obviously a difficult night. We didn’t play to our standards while I thought the German team were excellent. The mood afterwards was one of disappointment.
“We’re better than that, we’re a better team than that, and hopefully we can show that in the next two games. This was always going to be a tough night for us to get something.
“We now need four points from our next two games and that’s what we’ll focus on. This game ran away from us very quickly.”
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What now for Scotland?
Scotland will now watch to see how Hungary and Switzerland fare on Saturday afternoon, the assumption being that they would prefer a draw to be played out.
Nevertheless, as Clarke alluded to, collecting four points from their remaining double-header is likely to be enough to secure a bare minimum of one of the best third-placed spots.
As a result of the negative goal difference, Scotland look up against it to qualify with three points unless other such third-placed teams suffer similar defeats.
Germany square off against Hungary early on Wednesday evening before Scotland meet Switzerland in Cologne, aware that they can ill-afford defeat.
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