10 Glorious Scotland International Football Failures
4. Netherlands 6-0 Scotland (19 November 2003)
Despite that nonsense in Torshavn, Scotland recovered pretty well in qualifying, wrapping up second place, just four points behind Germany, and a spot in the playoffs was secured. Nothing is ever easy for the Scots though, and drawing the Netherlands with a place at Euro 2004 on the line was typical. The Dutch had missed the World Cup two years prior after finishing third behind Ireland and Portugal, and weren't keen to miss out again.
It was backs to the wall stuff at Hampden in the first leg, but James McFadden's deflected effort was the difference, and the Tartan Army headed to Amsterdam with belief. Belief that they could score over there and not concede three.
They conceded three alright. Three in each half to be precise. The superb Wesley Sneijder opened the scoring and terrorised Scotland all night, but it was Ruud van Nistelrooy's hat-trick that was best remembered from a complete drubbing.