Steve Clarke has confirmed that former Celtic defender Kieran Tierney will miss Scotland’s final group stages match on Sunday against Hungary after suffering another injury blow last night in the 1-1 draw with Switzerland.
That result takes Switzerland through to the knock-out stages alongside group leaders and tournament hosts Germany and leaves Scotland looking for a win on Sunday to become the third qualifiers from the group with four points.
It was a night of mixed fortunes for the two Celtic players with Callum McGregor being outstanding in the middle of the park, with ‘the Celtic captain’ setting up McTominay for the Scotland goal, but a tougher night for Anthony Ralston who was continually targeted by the Swiss side and a stray pass allowed the Swiss to equalise. The pile on from the other side of the city is incredible, given their own right back is 100 times more error prone than Tony Ralston, who incidentally is only in the Scotland side due to injuries.
On Tierney’s injury Steve Clarke told BBC Sport: “Yeah, definitely out. It looks pretty bad. Obviously we have to assess it but Kieran won’t play the last group game. You have to feel for him, he’s got himself into great shape, he’s a top player for us who does ever so well. But it’s a chance for someone else to step in and step up to the mark.”
The Scotland manager added: “We didn’t turn up in the first game, we wanted to show them we can play. We know we have to be aggressive. Everything you saw on the pitch was aggression but quality as well. We’re a good team when we play.
“They’ve always shown that we could turn it around. You have to put the first game down as a bad night for us. We didn’t get on the front foot at all against Germany, we sat back too much. Tonight, we were determined to make sure we were pressing and went after the ball. We kept two players higher up the pitch to start that press, and it worked tonight against a very good Switzerland team I have to say.”
The Ralston criticism can be expected but did you hear Neil McCann criticising Callum McGregor for his assist? Incredible really. Nice to listen to Joe Hart though, wasn’t it?
