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#3 England 0-1 Scotland (UEFA Euro 2000 Qualifiers)
If England’s victory over Scotland in the first leg of their Euro 2000 qualifying playoff was unconvincing, their performance in the second leg was utterly spineless.
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Scotland won 0-1 on the night. While the result didn’t send them to the Netherlands and Belgium for the tournament, it was definitely a moral victory and was a precursor for what would be a disastrous Euro 2000 campaign for England.
The game was won by a wonderful goal from Scotland midfielder Don Hutchison, who headed home following an excellent cross from Neil McCann. Despite having the entire second half to find an equaliser, England struggled massively and somehow ended the game without having a single shot on target.
England manager Kevin Keegan admitted that the display was poor, alluding to the 2-0 lead from the first leg being too much for his players to cope with psychologically.
Realistically, though, a side containing David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Michael Owen and Alan Shearer should’ve won this game comfortably. That was a bad omen for England to head into Euro 2000, and so it proved.
#4 England 3-0 Scotland (2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers)
While they faced each other in friendly games in the years that followed their 1999 meetings, it would be over a decade before England and Scotland would play in a competitive fixture.
That came in 2016, as the two old enemies were drawn in the same qualifying group for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. When their first meeting came around – at Wembley in November 2016 – both sides were on relatively low ebbs.
England were just beginning the start of a new chapter under interim boss Gareth Southgate after their disastrous Euro 2016 campaign. Meanwhile, Scotland were struggling under Gordon Strachan and had not qualified for a major tournament since 1998.
Thus it came as no surprise when the game turned out to be a whitewash in favour of England. Scotland were beaten by three headed goals – from Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill. While the visitors did create some chances, the game never seemed to be on the verge of leaving England’s grasp.
The win was one of the more comfortable ones for England during their qualifying campaign and went a long way towards Southgate’s appointment as their permanent manager.
It would also be remembered as Wayne Rooney’s final competitive appearance for England. The Three Lions’ record scorer was dropped by Southgate soon after and only returned for a friendly game two years later.
#5 Scotland 2-2 England (2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers)
The most recent meeting between England and Scotland featured a truly dramatic ending. The two old rivals drew 2-2 at Hampden Park in a qualifying match for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
England had swept Scotland aside 3-0 just seven months before this game but found things much more difficult on a hot afternoon in Glasgow.
With both sides struggling to score chances in the first half, it looked like game over when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored for England after 70 minutes. But with just three minutes of normal time remaining, Gary Cahill conceded a cheap free-kick. Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths stepped up to curl the dead-ball over the England wall and past Joe Hart to restore parity for Scotland.
Gareth Southgate’s side were stunned. But three minutes later, things got even worse when Griffiths scored from an almost identical free-kick, asking major questions of Hart, who didn’t come close to making a save.
Scotland boss Gordon Strachan looked on the verge of securing a historic victory for his side. But unbelievably, with three minutes of added time gone, a cross from Raheem Sterling found England captain Harry Kane unmarked, and the Spurs man fired in a dramatic equaliser.
The match wasn’t the best performance from England, it would’ve been disastrous had they lost. However, the late equaliser hinted at the kind of unexpected steel that would take them to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup a year later.
Scotland were left to rue what could’ve been. But the real fall-guy was Hart, who was dropped soon after in favour of Jordan Pickford following his unconvincing display in this game.
