23 Years...

[Rolling hIlls]

Just now, Caledonian Craig said:

Tough. If KirkieRobRoy says no zoomers he means no zoomers.

Understood.  Excited as hell btw.

[Rolling hIlls]

Where are people watching game?  I was going to watch it in the Borders but going up to meet a couple of old friends in the Hebrides Bar.  Don't know if we will need to book a table but will phone Colin the owner at 11 to double czech (see what I did there?).  

[KirkieRobRoy]

33 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

So in other words no zoomers today?

Oh, you can never guarantee that...

[dezmondo]

Woke up and started writing a Facebook post but I ended up writing a poem😂

 

Can't believe it's now finally here,
Scotland's first game at a tournament in 23 year.

We've wondered, we've feared, we'd never get here again, 
Then one night in Serbia, big Marsh saved a pen. 

The hurt, tears and pain,
the constant failed trying, 
But that night in November, the unicorn stopped crying. 

A generation of kids wondering what they'd just seen, 
"just wait til June 14th son, you'll see what I mean" 

The atmosphere building 
The nation coming together, 
We love our small country, yesterday, today and forever 

Today there'll be tears, beers and hopes of a goal so sublime, 
COME ON SCOTLAND, THIS IS OUR TIME 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

 

[Rolling hIlls]

3 minutes ago, dezmondo said:

Woke up and started writing a Facebook post but I ended up writing a poem😂

 

Can't believe it's now finally here,
Scotland's first game at a tournament in 23 year.

We've wondered, we've feared, we'd never get here again, 
Then one night in Serbia, big Marsh saved a pen. 

The hurt, tears and pain,
the constant failed trying, 
But that night in November, the unicorn stopped crying. 

A generation of kids wondering what they'd just seen, 
"just wait til June 14th son, you'll see what I mean" 

The atmosphere building 
The nation coming together, 
We love our small country, yesterday, today and forever 

Today there'll be tears, beers and hopes of a goal so sublime, 
COME ON SCOTLAND, THIS IS OUR TIME 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

 

Brilliant pal.  Heading to McDonalds for a breakfast then up to Edinburgh for game.

[Texas Pete]

On the train to Glasgow Central. I haven’t been this nervous about a Scotland game since 1998. I wasn’t even this bad for the playoffs. 

Let’s hope the players leave nothing on the park and do us proud. 

[Caledonian Craig]

Gutted I can't be there today but when we score you will hear me at Hampden from my home in Edinburgh screaming.

[ALBANACH]

The Irish Club in Perth, Western Australia  

My mate is picking me up in an Uber in 55 mins time, can't wait! 

[theabsentee]

3 hours ago, ParisInAKilt said:

First TAMB tournament. Cheers everyone!

Cheers from Amsterdam 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿❤️

[Scotty CTA]

8,392 days...

[scotlad]

Decided to wear the same top I wore the last time I saw Scotland play in a major tournament, the 96-97 shirt.  It's still wearing surprisingly well, unlike its owner. 😄

And yes, it has been washed since then!

[dandydunn]

4 hours ago, Parklife said:

That's a penalty...

🎶🎶

[dandydunn]

4 hours ago, ParisInAKilt said:

First TAMB tournament. Cheers everyone!

I’ll be bursting balls into that goal like Dykes in a couple of hours time 😂😂

[mccaughey85]

2 hours ago, scotlad said:

Decided to wear the same top I wore the last time I saw Scotland play in a major tournament, the 96-97 shirt.  It's still wearing surprisingly well, unlike its owner. 😄

And yes, it has been washed since then!

But its owner hasn't lol

[Toepoke]

Well it's been a while since I've had this feeling

Crumb of comfort for the youngsters on here, Costa Rica and Peru/ Iran felt much worse.

 

[Caledonian Craig]

1 minute ago, Toepoke said:

Well it's been a while since I've had this feeling

Crumb of comfort for the youngsters on here, Costa Rica and Peru/ Iran felt much worse.

 

Lets not forget Morocco and Uruguay.

[Toepoke]

2 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Lets not forget Morocco and Uruguay.

That feeling's coming after Croatia

 

[KirkieRobRoy]

3 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

That feeling's coming after Croatia

 

That, of course, would be our first ever defeat against Croatia. Progress, eh?

[Toepoke]

2 minutes ago, KirkieRobRoy said:

That, of course, would be our first ever defeat against Croatia. Progress, eh?

It was Rangers that lost to them

 

[Orraloon]

1 hour ago, Toepoke said:

Well it's been a while since I've had this feeling

Crumb of comfort for the youngsters on here, Costa Rica and Peru/ Iran felt much worse.

 

Aye, for those folk who are too young to remember Scotland playing at a tournament.....this is what it feels like. 

This could be the worst one yet. I wouldn't be surprised if we get no points and no goals. At least we have already had some shots on target. At least I wasn't expecting too much this time round. For this squad of players it was an achievement just to qualify. Hopefully some of them will improve as players from the experience.

[Toepoke]

1 minute ago, Orraloon said:

This could be the worst one yet. I wouldn't be surprised if we get no points and no goals. 

It'd be hard to do worse than 1954. I'll reserve judgement til after Friday though.

 

[ThistleWhistle]

To be honest yesterday was a really weird experience for me almost like the point you realise Christmas Eve is better than Christmas day.  Since 1998 I’ve wanted this so much like everyone on here and been gut wrenchingly pissed off every two years at various points where it’s become apparent we’re missing out again but then allowed myself to believe again most following campaigns could be different.  This time I promised myself not to get my hopes up because we’d squeaked through to a tournament it was arguably more difficult not to qualify for and performances since hadn’t be great with teams, particularly Israel, becoming more aware of our apparent limitations.  However, following the dutch friendly I jumped aboard the hype bus and truly believed we’d get something yesterday.   

Half hour before kick-off we got the wee lass’s school report and to be honest we knew she’s clever; knows how to read way beyond her age (6); absolute boffin at maths; can write neater than me already; draw mint, etc – academically the kid is gifted but still fortunate too that she has the social skills side.  What I didn’t know was that if there’s kids with nae mates she goes and plays with them taking other kids with her and in class she goes sit with various kids struggling with their numbers and letters to help them get on and has been doing it pretty much every day since they went back.  The feeling of pride I had in me at that point I’ve honestly never experienced before in my life and even the anthems half an hour later were somewhat hollow in comparison.  

I had a weird feeling of guilt not picking her up from school but my wife was adamant she’d go so I could watch the football.  I tried to get excited about a comeback and then to mope in defeat but it struck me all I really wanted to do was play Mario Kart with the wee lass and tell her how chuffed she’d made us.  We asked her when she came in why she decided to help some of the others in her class and she looked at us like we were daft 'because I can!' - she's fucking 6!  Scotland could have scored ten times yesterday and doubt it would have come close to be honest to what I felt.

Originally the plan for England involved getting absolutely rat arsed but now I’ll probably hide in the bath and stay sober so can go Smyths first thing Saturday morning.    

It’s really a weird feeling how perspective changed because if we’d got the report today I’d have likely been wired to the moon yesterday.  Don't get me wrong I'm pissed off this morning that a chance, particularly at home, was wasted but in reality our XI's limitations were just tactically better exploited by the similar standard opposition XI than we managed to do to theirs.