All Time World Cup! 2nd Round...
Law 18, Blokhin 62, Dalglish 73, Shevchenko 87, Gough 112
Rio de Janeiro
At long, long last, Scotland would participate in the knock-out stages of a major tournament. They were in uncharted waters and no-one was quite sure how they would respond. One thing in their favour was that in opponents the Soviet Union, one often knew just what to expect at this stage of competitions.
Many times the U.S.S.R. would dazzle in the group stages, only to lose cohesion in the second round.
Jock Stein continued to show faith in his wingers, Johnstone and Morton. Scotland have traditionally been strong out wide, and wingers who had not even made this squad included John Robertson, star of Brian Clough’s European Cup winning Nottingham Forest, and Davie Cooper, the ‘Moody Blue’ described by Ruud Gullit as perhaps the best player he ever saw. Either would have walked into most other teams, but Alan Morton and Jimmy Johnstone had the edge over them.
Johnstone was the creative genius at the heart of Celtic when they were one of Britain’s greatest ever sides, while Morton terrorised English defences in particular during the 1920s and 30s. He set up all three of Alex Jackson’s goals as the 1928 ‘Wembley Wizards’ thrashed Dixie Dean’s England.
That day all of Scotland’s front five were under 5’7” tall, and relied on pace and skill rather than power. Morton’s understanding with fellow Wizard Alex James created the first goal on 18 minutes. The baggy shorted Arsenal man shimmied past Igor Netto in midfield and threaded a perfect through ball to Morton, who skinned right back Bessonov to reach the by-line.
He looked to pick out Denis Law in the box but Kuznetsov managed to get a faint touch to deflect the ball as law rose to head it. Law showed his famous reactions and agility by shifting his body in mid-air to stoop and head the ball back past Yashin.
For the rest of the first half, Scotland seemed fairly comfortable. Schesternev, Kuznetsov and Yashin formed a formidable barrier and managed to prevent further goals but elsewhere, Johnstone and Morton looked to have the beating of full-backs Demianenko and Bessonov; Souness and James had a narrow edge over Netto and Voronin in midfield, and MacKay and Hansen were able to control strikers Belanov and Streltsov.
Right-back Danny McGrain was having a fantastic one-on-one duel with Oleh Blokhin. On the other side, Igor Chislenko was playing wider than usual, trying to get some joy out of Eric Caldow. The Rangers Stalwart was a fine player, but just after the restart Chislenko did manage to get away from him, and pulled the ball back to Streltsov, who skilfully turned away from Hansen and tried to chip Goram when he should perhaps have played in Belanov.
Goram read his intentions and tipped over the bar. From the corner, the ball fell to Belanov but he could not get his shot on target.
Little by little, Netto and Voronin got to grips with Souness and James. Netto started his career as a left-back but his skills and attacking mentality saw him become a great attacking midfielder.
Voronin was more defensive, and a few robust challenges saw the diminutive James’ influence wane. Just after the hour, Netto found space out to the left, and used it to find Blokhin, who had come inside.
Blokhin dribbled past Gough and played a swift one-two with Streltsov before firing a side-foot shot past Goram.
Stein had to decide to make a like-for like swap and replace James with Jim Baxter, or beef things up with Bremner. Boldly, he decided to let Souness deal with Voronin and put Baxter up against Netto.
Baxter was cocky and never seemed to notice the pressure of big games. Like Matt Le Tissier, his languid style did not always produce results, but when he was in the mood, he looked capable of anything. As soon as he got the ball after coming on, he drew first Netto then Voronin into challenges, only to pull the ball away with a drag-back before they could get to it.
Schesternev was forced to come out to close him down but that left space in behind, which both Baxter and Kenny Dalglish instantly spotted. Baxter flicked the ball up and then volleyed it up over the defender to Dalglish, who controlled it perfectly. Dalglish was always an example of a player who understood the flow of a game and where space could be created for himself and others.
He was occasionally criticised by Scotland fans for appearing to run into congested parts of the pitch, when in fact he was deliberately drawing defenders to create room for his team-mates. His two-footed prowess and clinical finishing made him perhaps the top attacker in Europe in the years between Cruyff and Platini’s peaks.
With time and space, he shuffled the ball from left foot to right and back again before picking his spot past the helpless Yashin. Shortly after, Lobanovsky turned to one of his favourite protégés, bringing on Shevchenko for Belanov.
Belanov was European Footballer Of The year in 1986, but was never a particularly prolific goal-scorer. Shevchenko on the other hand, scored goals for fun everywhere he went apart from Chelsea, and could create his own chances as well as finishing off other’s passes.
His lightning pace began to cause Hansen and MacKay a few problems. As they dropped deeper to cover his runs, Blokhin and Netto started pushing in to positions where they could let fly with long range shots. One of these from Blokhin forced a notably fine save from Goram. Scotland were looking more precarious as they tried to sit on their lead. Dalglish dropped back deeper to help harry the Soviet midfielders.
Just when it looked as if Scotland would hang on, with three minutes to go Netto unleashed a drive from outside the box which ricocheted through a crowd of players before bouncing off Hansen’s outstretched foot and flying high in the air. Goram was stranded, having already committed to his dive and as the ball dropped back down, Andriy Shevchenko out-jumped Dave MacKay to nod into the gaping net from four yards out. 2-2 and into extra time.
Before the restart, Stein made the changes he perhaps should have made as soon as Shevchenko came on. To counter the Milan man’s aerial threat, he brought on Richard Gough, and pushed Dave Mackay into midfield to replace Graeme Souness, who once again looked to be one bad tackle away from trouble.
Alan Morton had played well but was running out of steam, so Stein brought him off, with Baxter moving out to the left in his stead. To play alongside MacKay in the centre, on came 1990s star Gary McAllister, a cool head and a master of keeping possession.
It took a while for this reshuffled Scottish pack to settle down, and the Soviets dominated the first half of extra time. Streltsov showed great skill to weave between Hansen and Gough but shot wide. Then substitute Valentin Ivanov hooked in a cross/shot from the right that looped over Goram, only for McGrain to clear from under the bar.
After the turn-around, Scotland began to look more assured. From Blokhin’s corner, Richard Gough headed clear from former Rangers team-mate Oleh Kutznetsov. The ball fell to McAllister who played a beautiful long pass out to Jimmy Johnstone. ‘Jinky’ nut-megged Demianenko and burst down the line. His cross was nodded down by Denis Law to Kenny Dalglish who shot first time from six yards, only to be denied by a sensational reaction save by Lev Yashin.
Scotland would not be denied though, and from McAllister’s floated corner, Law flicked on at the near post and there was Richard Gough to bullet an unstoppable header into the net from eight yards. Gough was a cultured, ball-playing defender, but more than capable of getting stuck in when required.
The U.S.S.R. had eight minutes to try and salvage the game, but both teams’ strength was fading in the Rio heat. The iconic Blokhin rallied the troops for one final push and the Scots suffered heart-stopping moments as the ball ricocheted about in their crowded penalty area before Hansen cleared just as Ivanov was lining up a shot.
At the final whistle both sets of players collapsed in exhaustion, but soon they were on their feet and swapping shirts. The Soviets had enjoyed some good results in the tournament, and had played some good football, but in too many areas of the pitch, Scotland had just slightly had the edge in quality.
Yashin had been great of course, the best in the tournament. Schesternev and Kuznetsov were both fine defenders, and Blokhin and Shevchenko had lived up to their billing. They did not have a Law or Dalglish though, and their full-backs were not in McGrain’s class. Scotland pressed on, but knew that they were really moving into the high slopes of the game, with a quarter final against Argentina.
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