Scotland 1-1 Switzerland- Scott McTominay Scores as Scotland Retains Knockout Stage Hopes: Euro Triumph
At Euro 2024, Scotland drew Switzerland 1–1 in a pivotal Group A match. Scotland’s hopes of making it to the knockout rounds were preserved when Xherdan Shaqiri leveled the score after Scott McTominay had opened the scoring.
If Scotland beats Hungary in their last group game, they might advance as one of the top third-placed teams.
The team led by Steve Clarke was far better than the one that lost 5-1 to Germany, the hosts of Euro 2024, on Friday. They took the lead right away when Scott McTominay scored a goal off a deflection off Fabian Schar, capping a quick counterattack.
The goal sent the Tartan Army into fits of delirium inside Cologne Stadium, but veteran Xherdan Shaqiri quickly leveled the score with a stunning first-time finish from the edge of the box after he pounced on a wayward pass from Anthony Ralston.
In the second half, the two teams continued to trade blows. Angus Gunn, who was superb in the first half when he denied Dan Ndoye a one-on-one opportunity, again denied the Swiss forward before Grant Hanley headed a tremendous Scotland opportunity against the post from Andrew Robertson’s free-kick.
Scotland came within a whisker of winning all three points and their first major tournament victory since defeating the same opponent at Euro 1996, but they also displayed impressive defensive resiliency, surviving a late scare from substitute Zeki Amdouni’s careless header wide.
Scotland is now one point from two Group A games due to the draw, three points behind the second-place Swiss, who, along with Germany, are all but qualified. Most importantly, though, it means that Scotland might advance as one of the top four third-place finishers if they defeat Hungary in their final match on Sunday.
The only negative aspect of the game was the injury to defender Kieran Tierney, who went down holding his hamstring and needed to be stretchered out in the second half. Clarke said after the game that Tierney will undoubtedly miss the match against Hungary.
Although Scott McTominay’s goal—his eighth in his past 14 international appearances—was the game’s high point, the Manchester United midfielder gave a fantastic all-around effort.
As he typically does, he drove the team forward while in possession, finishing first for touches in the opponent box with eight and took twice as many shoots as any of his teammates (four).
Off the ball, though, he was just as significant. He enjoyed being assigned to follow Granit Xhaka in order to reduce his influence, and he did the job well.
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Goalkeeper for Scotland, Angus Gunn, said:
“Everything in the game, from the start, was 10 times better than the other night.”For ninety minutes, the boys succeeded in keeping it going. By the end, a few of them were flagging, but overall, they were a lot more like us.
“We wanted to reintroduce that level of intensity into today’s match. You can see the positive impact it had on the players and spectators when we did that. That gave us the early game advantage we needed.
“After the game on Friday night, I was in pain because I didn’t think I had done myself credit. I believe that many of the boys had similar feelings. That served as our inspiration to show the world who we are.
“We wanted to have something to aim for heading into the last game. We know what needs to be done going into the final game, and hopefully we can achieve a significant outcome.”
According to Captain Andrew Robertson:
“Much more like us, aggressive on the front foot and got off to a much better start. “We make a mistake, but Tony Ralston was amazing following that error. Few could recover from it, but in the second part of his life, he was a different class.
“It was an open game, but we have our chances. That performance seemed much more like us, and we are much happier with it. We’ll accept the draw, and the last game is all up for grabs. All we can ask for is that.
