Scotland suffered one of the most humiliating results in their history after going down 3-0 to lowly Kazakhstan in their opening EURO 2020 qualifier at Astana Arena.
Goals from Yuriy Pertsukh, Yan Vorogovskiy and Baktiyor Zainutdinov secured victory for a Kazakh side ranked 117th in the world – 77 places below the Scots.
Although Alex McLeish’s side have already secured their place in the play-offs for next summer’s finals by virtue of winning their Nations League section, their result in the newly-renamed Kazakh capital of Nursultan is a severe blow to their hopes of securing automatic qualification through the group stage.
McLeish was it with a raft of selection problems, with skipper Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Callum Paterson and Ryan Fraser among those unavailable. There were only five players who kept their places from the Scots’ last outing against Israel in November, with David Bates, Scott McKenna, Stuart Armstrong, James Forrest and stand-in skipper Callum McGregor remaining from the side which triumphed 3-2 to win their Nations League group.
Aberdeen skipper Graeme Shinnie was handed a first competitive start at left back, and he was joined by Dons team-mate Scott McKenna who was passed fit following a hamstring issue. Liam Palmer, of Sheffield Wednesday, made his debut at right back.
Scotland could not have envisaged a worse start, with the opener arriving just six minutes into the match. Pertsukh beat the offside trap with an untracked run to latch on to a long ball, before superbly lashing high past Scott Bain from just inside the box.
The Scots needed to show a response but their task was made even harder within four minutes, when Islambek Kuat spotted the run of Vorogovskiy in behind Shinnie, allowing the attacker to slot past Bain from 10 yards. It was a horrendous start, and a long way back for McLeish’s men.
Scotland offered little by way of goal threat in their efforts to claw back, with Bates nodding wide from a Palmer through ball, while McGinn also nodded wide following a free kick.
The closest either side came to adding to the scoresheet before the interval came the way of the hosts on 29 minutes, with Bain required to thwart a third as he tipped Kuat’s dipping long-range drive over the crossbar.
Scotland’s hopes were virtually killed off just six minutes after the break however, when Zainutdinov rose above the Scots defence to plant a looping header past Bain and into the far corner.
The Scots could not even muster a consolation, with Armstrong’s low drive denied by a fine save from goalkeeper Dmytro Neophodov following Oli McBurnie’s lay-off.
Scotland will now look to return to winning ways against San Marino on Sunday, however the pain of this result against Kazakhstan will be felt for a long time.
Saving the embarrassment
The game momentarily went off the air as Sky Sports experienced some technical difficulties.
The Tartan Army took to social media in hilarious fashion thanking the European Qualifiers broadcasters for saving the embarrassment of another Scottish defeat.
Thank god!! @SkySports have pulled the pictures to spare us Scots any more embarrassment#KAZSCO #Scotland pic.twitter.com/SG0nAb83uB
— John Beattie (@johnboybeattie) March 21, 2019
Probably for the best for Scotland fans.#KAZSCO pic.twitter.com/DGNUB5x6Cw
— Scott Wiles (@scott_w88) March 21, 2019
Blessing in disguise… Scotland losing 2-0 lol ? pic.twitter.com/t06qL5TW7R
— Mark Whittaker (@djspoonie) March 21, 2019
Best passage of play from Scotland so far #KAZSCO pic.twitter.com/srQecha2ub
— Roddy Cons (@TheTeamOnTour) March 21, 2019
Highlight of the match so far! Wonder if they can do what the rugby team did at weekend?! ??#KAZSCO #Scotland pic.twitter.com/b87ShyndxH
— Kath H (@Kesskatho) March 21, 2019
Scotland are playing so bad, that even @SkyFootball feel its unethical to show the game! @SoccerAM @talkSPORTDrive pic.twitter.com/4nb3vnEhQo
— Scott Ratcliffe (@ScottRatcliffe) March 21, 2019
Scotland are playing so bad, that even @SkyFootball feel its unethical to show the game! @SoccerAM @talkSPORTDrive pic.twitter.com/4nb3vnEhQo
— Scott Ratcliffe (@ScottRatcliffe) March 21, 2019
Scotland are playing so bad, that even @SkyFootball feel its unethical to show the game! @SoccerAM @talkSPORTDrive pic.twitter.com/4nb3vnEhQo
— Scott Ratcliffe (@ScottRatcliffe) March 21, 2019
