Scotland had just about as disastrous an opening to EURO 2024 as one could have imagined.
Up against hosts Germany in Munich, the Scots were fired up pre-match, with their fans drawing much attention in the buildup.
In truth, the rendition of ‘Flower of Scotland’ may end up being the highlight of Scotland’s EUROs.
A dismal performance from Steve Clarke’s side saw an excellent Germany run rampant, running out 5-1 winners against ten-man Scotland, after Ryan Porteous’ first-half red card.
It’s hard to fathom turning things around from here for Scotland, and the manner of their defeat brought back painful memories for Irish fans of the Boys in Green’s similarly dismal outing at EURO 2012.
The goalkeeper for that tournament in Poland was Shay Given. He was in studio with RTÉ on Friday night to comment on the similarities between Trapattoni’s Ireland and Steve Clarke’s Scotland.
READ HERE: The Definitive Guide To The 24 Third Choice Goalkeepers At Euro 2024
READ HERE: Roy Keane Questions If Gareth Southgate Has “Learned Lesson” From Past Failures
Shay Given gives insight into how Scotland could learn from Ireland’s EURO 2012 disaster
10 June 2012; A dejected Shay Given, Republic of Ireland, looks on after Mario Mandzukic, Croatia, had scored his side’s first goal. EURO2012, Group C, Republic of Ireland v Croatia, Municipal Stadium Poznan, Poznan, Poland. Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE
Ireland went home from EURO 2012 with zero points, one goal, and a goal difference of -8. It remains the worst performance by any team in European Championship history.
If Scotland continue to play as they did on Friday night, however, that record may not last long.
Reflecting on the painful experience in Poznan and Gdansk 12 years ago, ex-Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given told RTÉ’s Jacqui Hurley that there was a sense of shame for the players in things having gone so wrong.
It doesn’t make it any easier when you see the goals back. You see the fans after and their reaction. You feel, as a player, you’ve let them down. They’ve travelled all that distance like the Scottish fans tonight in their thousands – to support you.
You feel you’ve let the country down.
There’s a huge buildup before a tournament, you get the suits, the bus, the big send-off in Dublin Airport. There’s a huge razzmatazz and excitement around the whole thing.
When it goes so wrong like it did in 2012…you’re coming back to the country with almost heads bowed. We let them down.
Given was 36 at the time of EURO 2012 and into the 16th year of his international career, making him one of the most experienced players in the squad.
He said that the likes of Andy Robertson and John McGinn in the Scotland squad now had a huge task on their hands to pick up the younger players around them and salvage some respectability from the tournament.
During that EURO 2012 campaign, Ireland faced a remarkably difficult task, playing European giants Spain and Italy, as well as a then-up-and-coming Croatia squad.
Given said that the one saving grace for Scotland was that their group was not quite of such a taxing quality, meaning that they can still hope to potentially salvage something from this tournament.
We lost to Croatia first, then we had Spain next and then we had Italy.
They’ve got Switzerland and Hungary next. The good thing for the Scottish guys is, ‘We aren’t playing Germany next, we aren’t playing a top European team next. We’re playing teams probably on the same level as us. The performance we put in to get to the EUROs, we have to show that against Switzerland in five days.’
They’re not playing against World Cup winners or European winners, they’re playing against a team – I think – on a similar sort of level as them.
Scotland will have to dust themselves off and turn things around quickly if they are to get anything out of this group. They face Switzerland next in Cologne on Wednesday night, at 8pm Irish time.
SEE ALSO: Hilarious Ian Wright TikTok Shows Roy Keane Hiding From Selfies In Berlin
