Scotland’s men are just 90 minutes away from reaching a World Cup finals for the first time in almost three decades.
Denmark are the visitors to Glasgow’s southside on Tuesday for a seismic match at Hampden Park.
The equation facing Steve Clarke’s side is simple – only a win will do to secure an automatic place at next summer’s showpiece in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The last time Scotland’s men graced such a stage was at France 98, when the nation featured in the tournament’s opening match against Brazil in Paris.
STV News has spoken to three media personalities about their recollections of that unforgettable summer 27 years ago.
Fred MacAulay – Comedian and broadcaster
STV News“My wife has told me off in the past for saying that it was one of the best periods of my life. She said ‘you’ve got married, you’ve got three kids”. I said yeah, yeah, but apart from family, it was, without a doubt, one of the best times of my life.
“It was just the whole combination of being part of the Scots who were there. We didn’t know then that it was the last World Cup for a long time. Just being part of the group, the weather was incredible and we opened the World Cup. We’re playing Brazil, the world champions. Every element just built and built to make it the incredible experience that it was.
“We were one of the first groups to arrive. We were there for the whole weekend before as we did a radio show in the Auld Alliance pub. As people were coming into town the Auld Alliance was a bit of a centre point.
“The bars and hotels were busy. We even managed to get to the Ritz where I said the worst thing I’ve ever said in my life. I said: ‘I’ll get these.’ That’s why I came home after the Brazil game. I was skint.
“I remember seeing fans under the Eiffel Tower naked from the waist up with two bags of cans. Two bags because they were there for a fortnight.”
Recalling the famous party at Buddha-Bar on the eve of the opening game, MacAulay said: “Rory Bremner was there, Alistair McGowan and it was very noisy so the entertainers found it difficult to get attention.
SNS Group“Sean Connery went up at one point and grabbed the mic to tell everybody to be quiet in his own special way. He grabbed the mic and he just went “wheest”, which had no effect whatsoever. I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve met over the years who said that they were there. There must have been over a thousand people in a 500-seat venue.”
“I have a photo of Ally (McCoist), myself, Ewan McGregor, his brother Colin and his dad Jim, on stage singing Flower of Scotland. Ally was singing Bruce Springsteen stuff later on with Kenny Dalglish on backing vocals.
“The photo is on the wall of my office at home. It was and still is one of the most incredible experiences of my whole career. In fact, my whole life and of course the next day we had the football.”
“I had been to a lot of Scottish internationals and to Wembley a few times. I had been at Hampden countless times. As it happens, Stade de France was the last Scotland international I was ever at. I still watch on TV, but I don’t go.
“I can remember at half time when it was 1-1 and thinking that I wanted it to be over. Then, when we were only 2-1 down, I didn’t want it to ever end. I wanted it to go on and on until we could equalise or maybe get a winner.
“We played really well that day. Fair play to Craig Brown and all the boys. They really pulled it out of the hat. I still to this day remember saying to people ‘that was the day that Scotland thrashed Brazil by one goal to two’.
SNS Group“It was probably an atmosphere that I had only ever experienced at Hampden. Even at Wembley, when the Scots would take over in the 70s. I still think that was pretty special. It was just incredible.”
“The next World Cup and it’s the US, who knows? There’s a lot of expats out there. There’ll be a lot of Scots in the stadium and a lot of people called Kowalski who will be proud of the Scottish heritage. It might happen again. Just maybe…Yeah, I think we can get there.”
Cat Harvey – STV Radio presenter and Tartan Army veteran
STV News“It makes me feel so old to say this but I have been to two World Cups. I was still at school for Italy 1990 and then I went to France 1998. I managed to see all three games.
“France 1998 was just incredible because we were drawn for the opening match of the entire tournament and we were playing Brazil, the actual holders of the World Cup. Of course, back then they were one of the most glitzy, glamorous, best football teams there has ever been.
“They had the likes of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos – the biggest names in football in Scotland were drawn for that first game. Paris, as you can imagine, was just kilts, Tartan Army everywhere. Everybody was coming from trains, planes, automobiles, camper vans, you name it. I know there were fishing boats.
“The Tartan Navy made their way up the Seine and it was just incredible. For me, that’s what made that game so special, the fusion of supporters because you had Brazil fans and Scotland fans together and they both love to party. There was this crazy fusion of samba and bagpipes the night before and Paris probably hasn’t seen a night like it since.
“You know the song No Scotland, No Party? Add the Brazilians into that mix and you have one of the best nights I’ve ever had in my life following Scotland. It was just incredible.
“The game itself wasn’t as bad as everyone anticipated. In fact, Scotland played quite well. The problem was the opening ceremony went on forever.
“I think it was honestly about two hours and Craig Brown, the manager, actually said they didn’t have time to warm up because of the big giant dancing flowers. I guess it was spectacular if you’re watching from home but we just wanted the football to get started. Then when the game started, they scored so early doors in the first ten minutes.
“I just thought ‘oh no, here we go’ but we totally held our own. Then of course we got a penalty. John Collins, cool as you like, into the bottom left-hand corner. The place went absolutely nuts and that meant half time we were drawing 1-1 with the world champions. That’s when you start thinking maybe we can win this after all? Sadly it wasn’t to be.
STV News“I always take a photo of the scoreboard when it is a score that I like for Scotland. Then came the most unfortunate own goal. I’ve watched it back 100 times and it was like a mistake between Tom Boyd and Jim Leighton. If you watch it, it really is a mistake. It’s nobody’s fault and of course to lose a game that way it was absolutely gutting. I thought we held our own against the world champion.
“John Collins penalty will always remain in the Tartan Army’s mind because we scored against Brazil in the opening game of the World Cup. The game against Norway, Craig Burley’s goal was an absolute cracker and again that gave us hope that if we won the last match, which was against Morocco, we might have a chance of progressing to the second round.
Getty Images“The Morocco game, I am still traumatised by it. As fate would have it, Norway beat Brazil, so we wouldn’t have gone through anyway, which kind of softened the blow.
“To be part of it, that’s the main thing about World Cups, it’s not just about playing the good teams from Europe, it’s a global stage. We just want to get involved again. We’ve watched too long from the sidelines. We now need to get back and be part of it.”
Jim Delahunt, former STV Sport presenter
STV News“Well who would have thought that it would be 27 years before we qualified again for a World Cup finals in France back in 1998? I certainly didn’t think that when I was sitting doing those games against Brazil, Norway and Morocco. But we’ve got this one chance tonight.
“All the hard work has been done in the group. It’s a one-off match against the Danes. This place will be absolutely rocking. You just have to hope that Scotland can raise their game to the levels that we know they can, we hope they can, and fingers crossed.”
“I remember back in the 90s. I went to Sweden for Euro 92. I was all over England for Euro 96, then I was presenting the World Cup finals back here in Glasgow from France in 1998. After three tournaments back-to-back like that, you just thought that these tournaments would come along like London buses – they didn’t and they haven’t.
“But thankfully, Stevie Clarke has got us to two Euro finals and he’s on the verge of getting us to a World Cup finals. I can only hope that we can go and do it against the Danes.
“Long before the finals themselves, we had the draw for the World Cup finals live on STV. I was sitting in a studio with Alec McLeish, the former Scotland captain. We were broadcasting to the nation and it suddenly became apparent that that little slot beside Brazil was vacant and that Scotland might fill it.
“When we did realise that it the opening match of the 1998 World Cup in France, there was going to be Brazil against Scotland. His jaw hit the floor. I had to keep talking but it was just a sensational story at the time. From then on, it was just a massive build-up to that game.”
“I remember sitting in the studio, we’d obviously handed over to the commentary team and we were a goal down and we equalised through John Collins and suddenly, I mean the whole studio went up, cameras, everything.
Getty Images“Suddenly we thought, here we go, we could win this match, but I don’t think it lasted too long because Brazil were a very, very good side. They got back in front and they won 2-1. Hopes went on to the next game against Norway, which we drew 1-1, but all ended in tears, a 3-0 defeat by Morocco and we were coming home.”
“It was still a fantastic atmosphere back here in Scotland because everybody was looking forward to that opening match against Brazil. We still had hope getting into the Norway game and I think by the time Morocco came around, I think we all knew we were coming home eventually.”
“Stevie Clarke has got us to two Euro finals and he’s done very well to do so. I know the last one was very, very disappointing and he got a lot of criticism after that but he survived it and he’s now on the verge of taking us to a World Cup finals.
“He’s from the same town as me, Saltcoats in Ayrshire, so I’m rooting for him even more. I would just be so delighted if Stevie Clarke took us to a World Cup finals. We are on the verge now. We are so close. Fingers crossed, we can get there.
“We’ve qualified a few times since 1974, but we’ve never got out of a qualification group once we’ve got there. We will worry about that once we qualify. The main thing is to get through and qualify. The first time in 27 years, wouldn’t it be magnificent. Come on Stevie son.”
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