Graeme Souness believes that the team was not good enough as Scotland and their World Cup hopes ended in disappointment after they suffered a heartbreaking loss to Ukraine at a sold-out Hampden Park They were a shadow of the team that beat Denmark six months ago to guarantee a home advantage in the playoff semi-final. The European Championships was their first major tournament since 1998 and the team has seen major improvements under Steve Clarke. The defeat against Ukraine was their first in nine games.
“We’re talking about getting the ball wide and crossing it into the box and pushing two center halves up, that’s in the last stages of the game to try to retrieve the situation,” former Scotland player Graeme Souness said. “That’s not what modern football is about, it’s about cute and clever passing and we never had that. They (Ukraine) did, in abundance. That’s something we have to look at.”
“If we’re to progress and be a threat at this level and qualify for World Cups we have to be a better football team, not a team that’s scratching around looking for a last-minute equalizer because we’ve just thrown the ball into the box for a big man,” he added. “Overall we just didn’t play enough football. We couldn’t get hold of the ball and keep it. We did it in our half but the minute we crossed the halfway line we gave it away for fun. We just didn’t have the quality in there to sustain any pressure on the Ukrainians. We’re just not good enough, and it saddens me to say that.”
Also, Read Ally McCoist: This Was The Best Scotland Team In Years
