The Astana Arena is 2,930 miles from Edinburgh.
And these guys are in the “Euro” qualifiers.
(Applause for the assist, but still… ) Huh?
The other teams, along with Kazakhstan, now considered part of “Europe” in the eyes of UEFA:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Israel.
I assume this is because four of those countries were part of the Soviet Union, and Russia is included in the Euros. As for Israel… because of tension in the Middle East?
But still, at some point Asia is Asia, no? Whichever the designation shall be, “Europe” has a borderline somewhere.
If all it takes is France’s neighbor’s neighbor’s neighbor’s…. neighbor, then before long soon we’ll have:
Cambodia vs. Mozambique, Pyongyang Stadium. European trophy on the line.
Things I've learned this week:
1) Kazakhstan play in the Euros in spite of being in Asia
2) Loverboy are Canadian
3) Diesel (the guys who sing "Sausalito Summernight") are Dutch.— Mike Wilkins (@ilkandcookies) March 21, 2019
It’s a beautiful assist, cutting through two lines of defense and freezing the back line on their heels, for a 2-0 lead…
But it’s Kazakhstan.
Scotland—what’s going on, big guy?
Half time and Scotland trail 2-0 to fucking Kazakhstan.
Is it any wonder that we drink too much in this country?
— Pie and Bovril 🏴 (@pieandbov) March 21, 2019
It’s been a while since they’ve had any real success.
Haven’t made the Euros since 1996.
Been out of the World Cup since ’98.
Their fans waiting for the smallest morsels of things to celebrate.
And even those morsels, too, are getting rationed away.
Dire hopelessness starting to set in for the Scottish faithful.
It’s getting ugly out there.
Kazakhstan 3 Scotland 0
A national embarrassment.
The games against Iran & Costa Rica were bad but this is easily the worst result in our history.
Shameful performance. An utter disgrace.
Hold your heads in shame#EURO2020 #Scotland
— Ewen Cameron 📻 (@EwenDCameron) March 21, 2019
How the hell have Scotland come out of a double header with Kazakhstan and San Marino with a negative goal difference hahahahahahaha
— DT (@Dan_Turner_93) March 24, 2019
Here’s the manager, after the game:
Alex McLeish has vowed to continue as Scotland manager following the humiliating defeat to Kazakhstan. pic.twitter.com/D15zEMvdp6
— STV Sport (@STVSport) March 21, 2019
As for Kazakhstan… jokes / jaw-dropping aside, the assist was a bit of beauty, and they did win convincingly.
So let’s hope they get good at soccer. For the sake of it, and for another more pressing reason.
To finally break the spell of this guy:
And as for Scotland, well…
Last time I saw them playing soccer on my screen, it was Mike Myers yelling at the “gargantuan cranium” to move out of the way.
So let’s hope they can win a friendly against Sri Lanka. Gibraltar. Samoa.
Someone.
Start from there.
Then, slowly but surely, bring back the Euro pipe dream.