This week’s Four To Follow is comparatively easy.
It’s also comparatively early, but there is a good reason for that: I’m getting a drum kit tomorrow, so rather than laying a groove on the keyboard tomorrow evening telling you, dear reader, all about the games in Scotland, I’ll be upstairs in the attic pounding seven shades of shite out of my new kit.
And anyway, with the Scottish national team doing their best to help other teams qualify ensure their qualification for the World Cup, the entire senior football program in Scotland has stopped so there’s not much to cover.
Apropos of which, while I can kind of see how the SPL games might be put on hold for a week while the National side goes through the motions, for the life of me I can’t really understand why the games in Divisions One through Three should be cancelled.
Does anyone know why this is?
It can’t be due to the various clubs around Scotland not being able to field teams because, looking through the squad that’s due to line up against Macedonia, you’ve only got four Scottish teams represented: Rangers have five players in the squad, followed closely by Celtic with four and then, as always trailing the big two you’ve got Kilmarnock and Falkirk with one each.
Perhaps it’s to do with getting the biggest crowd possible into Hampden, though you’d have to wonder how many Stranraer fans will make the trip north to Glasgow now that they’ve got a free Saturday. Maybe it’s got something to do with policing. Who knows? Answers via the comments section please!
So, with that out of the way, let’s get on with this week’s Four To Follow!
Scotland v FYR Macedonia
Pretty obvious, this one.
As usual, the run-up to this game is looking more like the Burma Railway than a football game, with many call-offs through injury and suspension. There’s not a great deal that needs to be said about this fixture other than that Scotland need to win, no matter what. Sure, it would be lazy blogging to just leave it at that, but I am a lazy blogger so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
I will however conclude this preview with a barrage of clichés, all of them appropriate to this particular game and which can sum up more eloquently anything that I can ever write about this game.
Ready? Here we go.
It’s do or die, it’s now or never, the buck stops here, the most important game of their careers, at the end of the day it’s all about 90 minutes, do it for the fans, do it for the nation, do it for yer granny. Just do it. Win.
Iceland v Norway
Being Scotland, qualification for any tournament is never easy.
We never cruise through group stages, crushing a series of hapless opponents, taking to the field with the confident swagger of a team that knows every game is a formality.
No, qualification for the World Cup generally involves a series of highs and then a completely ridiculous low (usually a defeat against a poor side), followed by angry newspaper editorials and a depressed nation.
This time around it’s no different, as qualification depends not just on Scotland, but on the performances of another team. In this particular case, that team is Norway.
The Norwegians, no doubt still smiling from that somewhat unexpected 4-0 win over Scotland need to beat Iceland (who have no chance of qualifying) to either move into third spot (if there’s a winner in the game at Hampden) or second spot (if the game at Hampden is drawn).
The best the Norwegians can hope for is a draw at Hampden, because that will set up their last game against Macedonia rather nicely. A draw would be enough to at least finish second, safe in the knowledge that Scotland would have to beat The Netherlands in their last game.
To further complicate matters, there’s a third team involved. Finishing second in the group does not guarantee qualification. The final qualifying place will go to the best-placed group runners up. There are 9 groups fighting it out for the 8 qualifying places up for grabs.
Macedonia edged out Scotland from the Best Placed Runners-Up table following Scotland’s defeat in Norway, and it would take a miracle (i.e. defeat the Dutch at Hampden) to even stand the smallest chance of getting to South Africa. But, we’ve said it before: stranger things happen at sea, so there’s no telling what might happen. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Ross County v Queen of South
On Sunday, the Quarter Finals of the ALBA Challenge Cup takes place. Of the four games on show, the one in Dingwall between Ross County and Queen of the South sticks out.
Both of these teams are at the top-end of the First Division – second and third respectively – and go into this game with some interesting results behind them. Ross County overcame former SPL side Inverness Caley 3-1 in the League Cup earlier this week, while Queen of the South, Scottish Cup finalists in 2008 completed a double over Partick Thistle in the league and League Cup, before ending the week with a 2-0 win over Ayr to rise to second in the table.
Whatever the result, these two sides will meet again in the league the week after (again up in Dingwall), while both have exciting fixtures coming up later on in the month: Rangers travel to Dumfries in the Third Round of the League Cup on the 22 September, while Ross County are at home to Dundee United on the same day. Exciting times then for both these sides, beginning with a good game on Sunday.
Formartine United v Inverurie Locos
In a league where practically every fixture is a local derby due to the distances involved (in this case it’s only 10 miles down the A920 and the B9170), the game between Pitmedden’s Fortmartine United and Inverurie Locos is a potentially mouth-watering clash.
In part this is due to the fact that the managers of both sides, Formartine’s John Gardiner and Locos’ Dave Cormie used to manage the other team. Gardiner was manager at Harlaw Park before being dismissed, while Cormie left Formartine United (then still a Junior side) to manage Highland League powerhouse Huntly.
While Inverurie Locos are Highland League veterans (they were runners-up between 2005 and 2007) Formartine United are enjoying their first season in the senior leagues since their elevation from the Juniors earlier this year. And as these two sides meet for the first time, just to make things even more interesting, the current side includes many former Inverurie players.
Inverurie have continued their good form from last season – Loco’s are undefeated so far in the league. Formartine have had the tougher run-in to this game: Buckie Thistle and champions Cove Rangers all proved too strong, but they did get their season off to a good start against Fort William.
The full fixture list reads as follows:
Friday 4 September
Cove Rangers v Buckie Thistle
Deveronvale v Huntly
Formartine Utd v Inverurie Locos
Lossiemouth v Fraserburgh
Nairn County v Turriff United
Rothes v Fort William
Strathspey Thistle v Keith
Saturday 5 September
Brora v Wick Academy
Forres Mechanics v Clachnacuddin
Sunday 6 September
ALBA Challenge Cup Quarter Finals
Annan Athletic v Elgin
Partick Thistle v Inverness CT
Ross County v Queen of South
Stirling v Dundee
