FUTBLOG: Scotland and Belarus in goalless draw during June 8 World Cup qualifier


Scotland travels to Belarus and returns with one point, pretty much leaving them extreme long shots to qualify for Germany 2006.

Belarus have numbers in their attack from the start, and Scotland appears prepared to defend - at least early on. Scotland remain completely bottled up in their own end through 20 minutes. The Scots eventually emerge tentatively, through Ferguson in the 28th and later. Two minutes later, though, Belkovich is grabbed by Pressley as he nimbly turns the defender, meriting a yellow card. "That's a face with few friends," says the Spanish language commentator on Fox Sports, when they show a close-up of the Scottish player. Belkovich comes close after an error by Gordon in the 36th. After a few positive forward runs, Scotland by the end of the half looks cautious again.
In the second half, Fletcher works the ball down the right wing, Miller shoots but his shot is saved by Zhevnov. In the 57th, Gordon saves at full stretch from a long-range effort. Belarus have a number of chances now, but it seems hard to imagine there will be a winner here, and football is definitely the loser. In the 66th, Gordon saves a shot by Bulyga. Belarus is finding it absurdly easy to penentrate into the right side of the box, although ridiculously hard to actually score.
In the 73rd, Belarus miss a tremendous opportunity to score, and five minutes later they come close again off a corner kick. Scotland, knowing they really must collect three points to have a realistic chance to advance to Germany next summer, press in the final 10 minutes. Gordin keeps Scotland in it at the back, but neither side seems disposed to score. The game ends a sad, slow scoreless tie.
Normally, four points from two games would be a good result, but Scotland needed all six points to stay within striking distance of second place in its group. Now, they are six points behind leader Italy and must pull off a string of upsets to book their place in Germany.

Posted: Thu - June 9, 2005 at 11:38 AM          

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