Bussiness
Scotland team arrives home after dispiriting Euros exit – BBC News
A dejected Scotland squad has arrived home after a dramatic exit from the Euros.
The team were given a rousing farewell by a Bavarian oompah band at their training base before flying to a quiet Glasgow airport on Monday evening.
Their departure from the tournament was confirmed on Sunday following a 100th minute winning goal from Hungary’s Kevin Csoboth.
Callum McGregor, Angus Gunn, Scott McTominay, Che Adams, Tommy Conway and John McGinn made their own travel arrangements as the management, staff and remaining players departed Germany, with manager Steve Clarke holding a souvenir bear.
Scotland were given a memorable reception by the locals and the oompah band when they arrived at their training base in Garmisch-Partenkirchen just over two weeks ago but the performances and results did not match the quality of the welcome.
Tens of thousands of supporters travelled to Munich, Cologne and Stuttgart to support Steve Clarke’s men from the stands – though the majority were without tickets and watched the games from fan zones or pubs.
On the pitch, the performance was somewhat less joyful.
The opener against Germany ended in a 5-1 drubbing and included a goal for the host nation in the first 10 minutes, a red card for Ryan Porteous and a consolation own goal from Antonio Rüdiger.
A 1-1 draw with Switzerland briefly kept the squad’s Euro 2024 dream alive – until Hungary clinched a 1-0 victory well into injury time to leave Scotland bottom of their group.
The national men’s side have never reached the knockout stages of a major tournament in 12 attempts and have not won a game in the last three tournament appearances – the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.
Scotland scored only two goals in three games in Germany, an own goal against the hosts and a deflected McTominay strike against the Swiss.
According to UEFA’s official stats, the Scots had 16 attempts on goal with three on target over the three games – the lowest of any team in the tournament.
If he remains as manager, Clarke and his squad will have to regroup for the Nations League Group A campaign which begins in September.
The lack of a goal threat frustrated many fans – and midfielder Kenny McLean.
The Norwich playmaker, who came on as a second-half substitute against Hungary, said: “We are always going to find problems and come up against situations but we need to find the answers.
“It is obviously difficult to speak now, we have just been put out the competition but we will definitely look back and see what we can do.
“We are obviously frustrated with the situation as well. We would have liked to have had more shots on target, more goals, of course we would have.
“We gave everything, that’s what I can say. We gave everything, just unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
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