The Brutal Truth About Scotland’s Euro 2024 Heartbreak

If hosts Germany and Euro 2024 will miss the Tartan Army, the same cannot be said for Scotland on the pitch.
Following Scotland’s exit from Euro 2024, Steve Clarke demands answers regarding the penalty call.
Steve Clarke indicated some progress. Clarke reflected on Scotland’s group stage exit from a major tournament, stating that they scored two goals this time, compared to only one the previous time. Scotland’s lack of cutting edge at Euro 2024 was exemplified by two goals scored off opposition players: Antonio Rudiger’s own goal and Fabian Schar deflecting Scott McTominay’s shot past his custodian.

If hosts Germany and Euro 2024 will miss the Tartan Army and the atmosphere that travelling fans brought to the tournament, the same cannot be said for Scotland on the pitch. If three games resulted in one point and an early exit, as they did three years ago at Euro 2020, Scotland cannot claim to have been treated unfairly. Their 17 shots at Euro 2024 are the joint-lowest ever recorded in a group stage; only Northern Ireland, in 2016, showed less attacking threat, and they, too, made it to the knockout round.

As a result, the pre-tournament fear that Scotland lacked scoring power was confirmed, as a lack of creativity and attacking ambition became painfully obvious. Scotland had no shots in a must-win game against Hungary until the hour mark. Clarke took a gamble by holding out for a moment – in this case, appealing for a penalty as Stuart Armstrong and Hungary’s Willi Orban went down in the box. It also explained Scotland’s passive start. “It was a one-goal game,” he explained. He demanded a “100%” penalty.

Despite this, Scotland only managed to score once in three games. An xG of 0.9 is the lowest of any team at Euro 2024, and the three attempts they made on target indicate a lack of ideas and imagination. If Scotland’s history at major tournaments is littered with near misses, this was not a glorious failure. Scotland’s best moments in the Group A decider were Armstrong’s appeals and a couple of late glimpses into Hungary’s box. Kevin Csoboth’s 100th-minute goal was heartbreaking, but two points were unlikely to suffice.
Clarke will face criticism for not giving Lawrence Shankland, the 30-goal Hearts striker who appeared in only 25 minutes off the bench during the tournament, more opportunities. Scotland’s blunt attack was not helped by John McGinn’s poor Euros performance. McGinn is the squad’s top scorer with 18, but he has not scored for his country since November and was replaced by Clarke with Scotland in need of a winner. Scott McTominay was the hero in qualifying, scoring the opening goal against Switzerland, but “own goal” is Scotland’s top scorer in 2024.

Perhaps McTominay’s seven goals in qualifying concealed underlying flaws, with the midfielder’s comeback proving unsustainable in the long run. Scotland needed more. “We had a lot of the ball and did not create enough, but we did enough to score a goal,” Clarke explained. “Is this why we are out of the tournament? We scored two goals this time, while we only scored one the previous time. It is something I will think about, discuss with my coaches, and try to work on in the future to improve how we score more goals at certain times in the game.

However, this is a larger issue than Clarke’s tactics. Given the limited options available to him, could Clarke have set up his side any differently? When QPR forward Lyndon Dykes was ruled out of the Euros, Clarke had only two options: call up Tommy Conway, an uncapped Bristol City forward, and winger Lewis Morgan, who was not on anyone’s radar at the New York Red Bulls. The fact that Ben Doak, an 18-year-old winger with only a few appearances for Liverpool, was close to making the squad despite his lack of fitness demonstrates how short Clarke’s list was.

Scotland is not the only country at Euro 2024 without a leading forward and goalscorer, but they were found to be woefully short on pace and ingenuity. Scotland demonstrated character in their comeback against Switzerland after losing 5-1 to Germany, but that can only take you so far. At international tournaments, contenders are defined by their weaknesses as much as their strengths, and Scotland’s talent is dispersed across the team, leaving too many gaps to bridge.

The Scottish Football Association will have to address the issue of a lack of new talent, which has been obscured by Scotland’s recent qualifying successes. Scotland had the second-oldest squad at Euro 2024, with an average age of 28.3, and after only one win in 12 matches, it appears that this generation peaked 12 months ago.
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