10 Glorious Scotland International Football Failures

Wins over France home and away had Scotland nicely poised. A comfortable 3-1 win at home to Ukraine on the Saturday had you believing. Then you went to Georgia on the Wednesday and found out that because of an injury crisis, they're debuting a 17 year old goalkeeper yet to play a first team game for his club, never mind his country. It was a certainty, right?

Picture the scene. Scotland have been drawn with France, Italy, and Ukraine for their Euro 2008 qualifying group. Italy and France have just contested the World Cup Final, while Ukraine made it to the quarter finals. This qualifying campaign is a learning experience at best and and an utter waste of time at worst.

Yet Scotland for some reason were more competitive in the hardest group imaginable than they have been in recent years with much more manageable opponents. They opened with a 6-0 win over the pesky Faroe Islands at Celtic Park. A win in Lithuania (a traditional banana skin fixture) was then followed by a famous 1-0 at Hampden over the French courtesy of Gary Caldwell's goal. Defeats in the Ukraine and Italy followed, but Scotland kept winning the games they should. A home win over Georgia thanks to a last minute Craig Beattie goal was a let off, but perhaps Scotland's luck had turned.

James McFadden's thunderbolt in the Parc des Princes gave Scotland another unlikely win over the French, and a solid performance in a 3-1 win against the Ukraine at home put Scotland on the brink. Four days later they went to Georgia, with the hosts ravaged by an injury crisis between the sticks. It was surely wrapped up.

Goals from Levan Mchedlidze and David Siradze had Georgie 2-0 up before their young keeper even had anything to do. Two shots on target all game from Scotland in a pathetic display ultimately ruined a fantastic campaign.

Despite this, they could have still could have qualified with a win over Italy, but a last minute Christian Panucci header after a questionable free kick gave the Azzurri a 2-1 win. France would then go on to draw 2-2 in the Ukraine a few days later, leaving the Scots in third place, five points behind the Italians, and just two agonising points behind the French.