Scotland 3-2 Holland (1978)
Scotland needed to beat Holland by three goals in their final group game to progress to the second round. They didn’t, but Archie Gemmill scored one of the greatest goals in World Cup history.
By Conor Hogan
For a nation of its size, Scotland has an impressive qualifying record. They’ve made it to eight World Cups, including five consecutive ones between 1974 and 1990. They’ve flopped consistently though, in every tournament, never making it into the second round.
Sometimes they were unlucky. They didn’t lose a single game in ‘74, getting knocked out on goal difference. Other times they were awful (see Italia ’90 when they lost to Costa Rica). In ‘78, their performance was a combination of both.
With players like Graeme Souness, Joe Jordan and Kenny Dalglish, Scotland were in the unusual position of being one of the pre-tournament favourites. Manager Ally MacLeod fuelled expectations even further by guaranteeing they’d come home with “at least a medal”. Then it started and they were dreadful in their first two matches (losing 3-1 to Peru, and drawing 1-1 with Iran).
Scotland went into their final group game hoping for a miracle. They needed to win by three clear goals against the best team (though not the winners) of the previous World Cup to make it to the next round. Holland, then managed by the legendary Ernst Happel, were missing Cruyff (who’d chosen not to travel to Argentina) but still had the talents of the two Van de Kerkhofs, Rensenbrink and Johnny Rep to call upon.
Their best player, Johan Neeskens, was taken off injured after ten minutes, and Scotland began to dominate the match. In the 34th minute, however, Rep was fouled by Stuart Kennedy and Alan Rough, and the referee Erich Linemayer pointed to the spot. Rensenbrink confidently slotted it home against the run of play. At this point Scotland looked doomed.
A minute before half-time, Dalglish equalised for the Tartan army and after the break they came out with all guns blazing. They were rewarded in the 47th minute when Souness was fouled, Archie Gemmill slotting home the resulting penalty. Twenty minutes later, Gemill would score his second goal of the evening, and one of the best goals in the history of the World Cup.
Picking the ball up on the edge of the area, he skipped past three Dutch tackles, before chipping the ball over Jan Joongbloed.
For a minute, the whole of Scotland believed that the unthinkable was about to become the possible. It wasn’t. Rep scored with a long range thunderbolt just three minutes later to break Scottish hearts. Scotland were out. They’d failed gloriously but they’d still failed.
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