Several of Celtic’s young guns suffered heartbreak today as Scotland under-21s’ dreams of making Euro 2021 ended.
Scot Gemmill’s young Scottish outfit needed to win in Greece or hope that Croatia failed to beat Lithuania at home this afternoon. However, they slumped to a 1-0 loss to the Greeks whilst the Croats destroyed their Lithuanian rivals in convincing fashion. Celtic had David Turnbull, Stephen Welsh, and Ross Doohan representing the club in the Scotland camp.
A win would’ve sent the Tartan youngsters top of their Euro qualifying group above the Czech Republic, who had played all of their games heading into tonight. If they got there, they would’ve qualified for the Euros for the first time in 24 years. But their defeat coupled with Croatia’s win has denied them the chance of even managing a best runners-up spot in second place.
Doohan again started for Gemmill’s side in goal after playing in the previous game against Croatia last week. And just like the two goals conceded in that game, he was heft helpless by some dreadful errors at the back. Turnbull, meanwhile, came on for the final 20 minutes.
Efthymis Christopoulos bagged the only goal of the game from only six yards out midway through the first-half, leaving Ross County loan star Doohan with no chance.
Gemmill made a mistake in not giving Turnbull more minutes
From Celtic’s perspective, it’s also disappointing to see that Gemmill resisted giving both Welsh and Turnbull a start in this one.
The Scotland under-21 boss also chose to overlook the Parkhead pair for the game at Tynecastle against Croatia last week. That’s despite the fact Turnbull has starred with Motherwell in the early stages of the season whilst Welsh hasn’t looked out of place against Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
A lack of invention in the midfield was one of Scotland’s main issues this afternoon too. Not featuring Turnbull from the start – perhaps one of the best ball carriers in the squad – seemed a dodgy decision from Gemmill at the time of the announcement. That was proven to be the case on the field as the Scots could hardly string two passes together in the midfield.
Indeed, genuine goalscoring chances were something of a rarity in this one. Fraser Hornby was left isolated for long spells, whilst the defence kept relieving the pressure on Greece by either giving away silly fouls or needlessly conceding possession. Only after Turnbull’s introduction did the tempo raise somewhat, but it wasn’t enough.
What’s done is done. Scotland only managed to pick up one point out of six in this international camp, and that’s ultimately what’s cost them. They finish third in their Euro qualifying group behind both the Croats and the Czechs. It’s no disgrace, but considering where they were heading into the camp, it’s a massive disappointment nevertheless.
Hopefully, all three Parkhead youngsters can shrug this heavy disappointment off and try to kick on ahead of the hectic Christmas period.
In other news, 67HailHail writer John Reid talks about how a senior club figure was right to disregard a footballing fantasy.
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