Scotland’s men’s team ended twenty-two years of international hurt by beating Serbia on penalties and qualifying for the European Championships in 2021.
A year of pain and hurt was temporarily forgotten on Thursday night as David Marshall dived to his left and pushed away Aleksandar Mitrovic’s spot kick.
Scotlnad’s men’s team had went ahead early in the second half through a Ryan Christie strike and looked to be holding on, but Real Madrid man Luka Jovic headed in a late equaliser to force extra-time.
Penalties beckoned, and the men maintained the 100% record they’d started off in the semi-final against Israel before Marshall took his chance to become a national hero.
The team will now await confirmation of a location for next summer’s tournament, where they will face off in group stage games against England, Croatia and the Czech Republic.
National boss Steve Clarke was ecstatic after the long-awaited victory.
“For the players and the nation it was a magnificent night,” he said.
“We enjoyed ourselves, but after twenty-two years we deserved the moment.”
Clarke was also hopeful of fans being allowed to watch his side compete in the men’s first major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.
“Hopefully by next summer the global pandemic we are suffering, we have it under a bit more control.
“It would be great to have the Tartan Army there, but if we can get even some of them in it would be great followed up the victory with a 1-0 loss away to Slovakia on Sunday, where a Jan Gregus goal from outside the penalty area was enough to beat a much-changed starting eleven.
They now travel to Israel on Wednesday, where a win would guarantee top spot in Group B2 of the Nations League.
Journalist for the Lynn News. Journalism graduate from Stirling University. Part-time (and overly harsh) film critic.
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