Welcome to the Noise. Listen to the passion in Hamden.
Park, it's John again. It's John again.
The great done by Dalfish Chancellor, one for Scotland.
Hello and welcome back to the Scots with the Mic Podcast.
I'm your host James Scott and I'm absolutely delighted to have
you all back along again listening.
What an episode we've got in store for you today.
Scotland are back in action on Saturday night coming and it's
the final international break of the year and the stakes could
not be any higher. A place at next year's World Cup
is well within our grasp and only two games stand in our way
between that, the ultimate prize featuring a tournament for the
first time in 20 years. It's been a long, long time out
in the cold for Scotland. Obviously €2.00 get to be there,
but the World Cup is just that next level above and there's a
guy who's only, I'm only 28, so I was out.
I think I was 11 months old when the last World Cup took place,
so no memories for me. For many fans who did have been
to previous World Cups, it's a destined memory now.
Another man who was even born back when the last World Cup in
90, just a twinkle in his dad's eye is Fen Crocker, who's
joining me on the podcast today. Fen how much would you like to
see Scotland that World Cup? Oh, I mean, it's an absolute
dream, as you said. I mean, yeah, like you said, I
wasn't even born. We don't need to dwell on that
too much. But yeah, I'd be there obviously
if we qualified to anything, I could be to be traveling about
Mexico, US, Canada, wherever it is, we'll be there and I'm sure
thousands will be as well. So yeah, let's get there first
and then we can start planning our flights and booking our
overpriced flights. Oh yeah, I know that's that's
one thing is going nothing painful it, but that'll be a
good headache to have when, if if if it comes round.
So today's episode is another opposition analysis style
episode. We've done 2 before 1 was back
before the Denmark game. We had talk title on to discuss
things from Danish perspective. And then in October we had on
Stephen Conturu from the Hellas football podcast.
Both were very popular episodes got great feedback on them.
So we're on we're running that back, we're doing it again and
both of our previous guests are gladly coming back on to discuss
the final two games. So we'll get to hear what the
news is from their camps, the gossip, the vibes.
Hey, everyone's feeling about the games, Finn, before we jump
into the call with them, Steve Clark released his squad on
Monday for the games. So we might as well just take a
moment to run through that and, you know, just share our
thoughts on that. I mean just.
Before we do, I mean, it's great to see you wearing the Scotland
top on the day of release. Yes, Sir, it's got along in line
this morning. At 7:00 AM.
Not, not quite, not that bad long sleeve version I went for.
It's because I went, I went to here's what happened.
I finished work and I was like, I'm going up to the US, live in
Edinburgh, right in the centre. And I went up to the GED at the
Saint James and I was, I'm just going up for a look.
I mean, and I'll take the dog with me because that means I
won't be able to go and try it on.
So. But you better believe that I
was in the changing rooms with the dog trying on the top and it
just, it just felt a little bit too good.
So yeah, me as yeah, I was, yeah, that's how I'm doing bad.
So I went straight. There was, there wasn't much
long sleeve versions left to be fair.
So I kind of swayed my think and I was like that. £85 then the
drain. 80 but then supporters club discount to go down to 68
so but once I get that one I didn't.
Even know there was a Sports Club discount.
Yeah, you. Get 15% off Yeah, I'm doing
that. I'm advertising for the Sports
Club. Yeah, Yep, 15% off Scotland full
price stuff, but I'll be back up over 80 once I get Mask mcdorman
#4 on the back, so yeah. I think it does look better with
the numbers on it. Yeah, I was looking at it today
actually, and I was almost buying it, but I resisted.
So. What's nice, even the long
sleeve version, you don't can't really see it on the short
sleeve version, but the Saltire pattern through the bass Navy,
it goes right down his sleeves. It is really nice.
Obviously this is only an audio so people won't be able to see,
but on your your right arm there there's a just a gaping space
for the World Cup badge. I know someone was messaging me
that they're like, what's the space for?
I was like, that's where the patches go mate.
That's rein in a little bit. We're not there yet yeah, the
squad. So I think we'll go front to
back first striking departments looking pretty healthy.
Kieran Bowie drops out and we're both fans of Kieran.
But and comes Shankland, top goal scorer in the Premier
League, the Scottish Premiership, even.
I mean, it's. Good to see him in here.
I thought, I think a lot of fans were going out from when he got
into the squad kind of just before year 2024.
I think it was he, you know, he got a few games before the EUR,
like that one against Netherlands.
And I think in that game he missed a big chance.
And that's when kind of Steve Clark made-up his mind that he
wasn't going to play him. So it's been a long time coming
from I think he's it's good to have him back in the squads.
And obviously, like you mentioned, I think 2 names that
are glaringly missing from from the striking department, Karen
Bowie and Tommy Conway, Karen Barry more so, but you know,
it's just about who's in form. Lawrence Shanklin's in form, and
he's always going to pick Jay Adams and and one of the next.
Yeah, she got his goal again at the weekend against Pisa, didn't
he? So yeah, could see him, could
see him in Forum at least coming into the midfield.
Nothing changes there. Obviously Luis Ferguson and Ryan
Cresty will be returning from suspension, having missed the
game at home against Belarus. So midfield's as strong as you
could hope for. You look at the defense, we've
got 3 left backs and three right backs.
What's your thinking there? Yeah, I was supposed to say that
usually I we kind of take four or five, so quite surprising.
Good to meet like in there. There's usually a hint of like
what formation he's going to go with.
In the past, if you like, yeah, you know the extra fill backs
been signaling towards A5 at the back.
Yeah, so I think we could see a return of Kieran Tierney maybe
playing at left centre back, something along those lines.
Or I mean, he did say, though, you did all that Kin and Hacky
have struggled with injury. And like in the Denmark camp,
remember he did use the maximum players.
You get caught there because he said we're going to be away from
home in Denmark. We're not coming back to
Scotland. I just want to have guys out
there in case we do get injuries and all before the Greece game,
the training camps in Turkey. It might just be because he's
going you know what to our fullbacks are have been
struggling with injury over the last month.
Maybe just let's make sure we utilize all the squad positions
we can. So we're not getting someone to
fly five hours over to Turkey to join on the training and it adds
an extra day to getting them into the squad sort of thing.
So and then. Yeah, yeah.
I mean you, you've taken one extra than the last camp.
I think it is only three keepers, not As for that he went
for a couple of times last few years.
That was some something. But no, it's it's I think it's
just for for cover in case that does flare up again, because
obviously Aaron Hickey hasn't been training much with
Brentford first team, but he's obviously at that stage where he
is fit enough to make the trip and to hopefully play.
Maybe that's not in the griefs game and he's saving them for
the Denmark game at home and that's why he's taking an extra
man. We'll we'll just have to wait
and see. But I was happy to see Aaron
Hickey and and guaranteeing his name is both in there.
No, definitely. Karen Tierney looked like a good
option from right back as well when he came on against Belarus.
Yeah. And he was definitely a lot
better than Anthony Austin was. Looking at the keepers.
Max Johnson's injured as well. Oh yeah, he's done hamstrung.
He could be a while, could he? Not sure I mean.
Hopefully that's not another Iron Hickey situation where he's
out for 12 months after a six week injury.
No, definitely not. And then the goalkeepers.
Angus Gunn, first choice, probably usually first team
first name on the team sheet for us just because he's, you know,
he is the keeper point at highest level damaged his knee
ligaments and training. So Gordon and Kelly, the two
usual guys, but Scott Bean comes in.
That's quite a I mean it seems to ruffle the few folks
feathers, but I don't know who else they would expect to be
called then. I mean it's a bit a headache to
who might start. Now personally, I think it'll
probably be Craig Gordon just because when Clark has these
packing orders in his head, when one guy comes in, he very rarely
jumps up the pick in order that he usually slides in at the
bottom. So I don't think, I mean Scott
Bean's obviously been in good form for Folk, but I don't think
we'll see him. I think it will be Craig despite
his lucky game time, which is pretty worrying.
Yeah, I mean, Scott Bean's really the only starting keeper
at the moment. Got the squad.
Obviously it was really bad to see Angus got not in squad, but
I think it will be great when it starts.
Obviously he's got the experience of starting for
Scotland for so many times, so many caps.
Yeah. And I think he can be called
upon in these in these big moments like he has shown in the
past, and hopefully he can produce some some more big
performances. And you know what?
Angus gone when he came in to the September camp.
I think people maybe forget he wasn't playing much and he came
and he had a great camp. You know, he played very well
for US against Denmark away and then Belous away.
So and there's no reason Kate couldn't come in and play well.
But he is a different situation from his farm longer.
He's gone without the sort of regular game time.
So let's just wait and see what comes from that.
I'm sure Paul, maybe we might touch and again throughout the
episodes. But yes, we've got 2 guests
waiting in the wings and now, so we're just going to drop into
the call with them now. Gentlemen, welcome to the
podcast. Thanks for coming back you on.
I'll just get you both to introduce yourself once again.
I know we've maybe got some repeat listeners, but there
might be some new people that have joined us for this one.
So just introduce yourselves and tell us what you're all about.
Yeah. So let me start.
My name is Togathy Late. I'm Danish football writer.
It is in chief at Windfall Park dot DK and yeah, covering
everything Danish football. I assume everybody who's
listening to this podcast Remember Me, But yeah, always
good with another introduction, right?
Yeah, no, definitely. And Steven, obviously you're
from the Health Football Podcast.
Yes, certainly. I'm, I'm Stephen Contura from
the LS Football Podcast. We host a weekly podcast every,
well, every week. That's why it's a weekly
podcast, I guess, talking about everything Greek football from
the Super League, Greek national team, Greek, Greek clubs in
Europe, Greek players playing abroad.
And yeah, we, we, I write regularly for them as well about
Olympiagos team. I support the Greek national
team. Any other things that interest
me? So I mean, obviously talk,
you're a you're a Bromby fan, so we'll talk to you for one quick
second. But one thing you've got Lewis
Banks on your books right now. Is he someone you think Scotland
could be corner in the near future?
Well, I mean you're the Scotland experts, but I can say from
having watched him well these couple of months, he joined
Boundary in August that he is really, really good.
He got bit of mixed reviews when we signed him in Coventry.
A lot of the experts I spoke with said he was a little bit
questionable in his defensive skills, but that it was very
good offensively, very good passing.
But from what I have seen in the in these months, I mean, he is
excellent, almost everything really good technical player,
really good on the ball, very good in the build up play.
But also his defensive work has been has been outstanding.
I mean, I understand that Danish football is the Super League is
not Championship or Premier League where CA where he's
played before. But I think he he he has a
really big future. And and yeah, I could, I mean, I
remember Scott McKenna who played in Copenhagen and in my
mind he wasn't anything special, at least when he was in Denmark.
And I think Binks is, is twice the player that he was at least
when he was at Copenhagen. So yeah, I I would love to see
him play for Scotland, I'd love to see him play national team
football. I think it's fair to say that it
probably won't happen for England.
So yeah, I think he can definitely impact the impact the
Scottish team and he is a really good player and he's still
young, so he can go far I think. Yeah, well, good to hear.
The center back isn't exactly somewhere per.
It's not as strong as a midfield, should I say.
I think a midfield is probably the strongest area that pitch
for us. So I mean, but we'll get into
the podcast now talking about the two games coming up.
But I'm a little bit reflection first because I mean, if the
customer mined back to December last year when the draw was
made, we knew we'd potentially between playing Denmark in the
final game, we obviously knew Geese would definitely be in our
group. I'll come you first talk when
the potential fest fixtures were released and we knew this was
going to be the game to close the group.
Are you surprised by the level of significance it's gotten?
You know how it's on, it could potentially be a cup final.
I was kind of hoping that the Greek, Greece would take points
from you, so it was a little bit more settled before this last
match, I mean. It could be, we never know.
Of course, yeah, yeah, we of course we were recording this
way before any of the matches. But no, I think it was it was a
bit, it was it, it was predictable.
I also said in the first episode that in my mind, Scotland was
was the second best team in the group And, and I think that that
has been proven to be true. So yeah, really, really
interesting with this last match.
It's a shame that it's been played in, in Glasgow and not in
Copenhagen because I think that does give Scotland the upper end
and, and maybe slight favouritism as well going into
this match. But yeah, if, if Greece, if
Greece takes some points for you, it would look good for
Denmark. And of course, our two big
victories against Belarus means that unless something crazy
happens in your match that a draw will be enough for us,
which of course is that's a big advantage.
So I'm still pretty confident and, and, and I think we can be
very happy with, with this whole qualification as a whole.
But yeah, a lot, a lot rise in this last match in in Glasgow
for sure. Yeah.
I mean, you just touched on the fans there.
How big a influence do you think the the crowd at hand in could?
Because obviously you've seen it before and the last World Cup
qualification campaign, how the crowd kind of roared us on.
Obviously we didn't qualify directly, but we got that
playoff spot. That match was obviously
important for us securing the home playoff.
So you've obviously seen it before.
How big a impact you think they could have?
I think it could be huge. I mean I've been to Hampton Park
myself once. That was for a club match, of
course, but I mean, I saw that being full and and I can only
imagine if instead of being half, half Celtic ranges, if
it's 100% or 95% Scottish people supporting the team, that that
can be very, very loud stadium. And that's something I can only
imagine really pushes the team forward.
So yeah, I think that would be that would be a huge factor.
Of course, our players have also tried to play in Champions
League at big stadiums against fierce crowds and everything.
But yeah, I would definitely have preferred that match to be
at home. And, and I think Scottish fans,
national team fans are some of the best in Europe.
So yeah, it's it's definitely not the the the most fun place
to play such an important match. Yeah, and just out of interest,
what club game was that? Did you say the Celtic?
Rangers. Yeah, it was the cup final,
League Cup final in December last last year.
Celtic, Rangers, Celtic won in down to shoot out, if I'm going
correctly, yeah. Yeah, that's certainly would
have been an atmosphere of that one, Stephen.
I mean, a slightly different conversation we're having.
If you just the way the group's gone for Greece, not going to
plan at all. I mean, how hard is it for you
to believe or even like how hard does it be to take that, this
game against us in Athens from your perspective as a dead
rubber? Because I mean, I didn't for me,
again, look at the facts just going forward from the start of
the group. That match in Athens looked like
it was. I thought it'd be almost like a
knockout tie. Yes.
And it's like you said, it's a complete dead rubber now.
I mean for this international break, this is just another
transition period for Greece. We've brought a couple of
younger players to be called up to the national team, not as
many as I think people expected, but Nekdarius Triantis is in
from midfield. He's playing in MLS right now.
Babis Gustulasi recently joined Brighton from Olibiagos, our
record sale from an Olibiagos perspective.
He scored against Manchester United a couple of weeks ago.
So it's going to be interesting to see what Ivan Jovanovic
tries. Like I said, I, I, I don't,
we're not, I don't. I mean, we're never going to
play an opponent and not try to win, but because this game
essentially means nothing other than, you know, maybe somehow
the slight, slight possibility that Belarus might match us for
points. You never know, Maybe you should
have got someone from Belarus on this podcast, you know, the only
three points behind us. But yeah, I, I think, I think
that's what we have to try and do now.
We have they, they have to show that the preparation now for the
Nations League, League A and for EUR 2028 is the priority.
And and so Jovanovic is going to be looking at that, I think over
these next two games, you know, and it's a good opportunity in
that regard, I guess, because we're playing against Scotland,
who in the still in the recent past we have beaten.
But, you know, it's it's an opportunity for some of these
players to try again and show what they're really made of,
even if it doesn't mean qualifying for the World Cup.
And then there's Belarus as well, which maybe we'll give
them a bit of an ego booster smash if, if, if they do manage
to do that again, like they did in the first game of the of the
qualifiers. It's just hard to, like you
said, it's it's hard to really pinpoint this game against
Scotland because we, we expect to do at least if we were third
going into this game, we expect to still be in this
mathematically. And we just capitulated so badly
in the last three games. You know, the, the mental
fragility of this team was, was very evident in all three of
those games that we that we played, you know, both games
against Denmark and against you guys at Hampden Park.
It was just, yeah, hugely disappointing.
And just considering the talented team we have, there's
still obviously loads of hope. There's still loads of time.
But this was a big blow. And we expected, I don't, there
wasn't an expectation to qualify.
There was a hope, but there was at least an expectation that we
would compete for far longer than we did.
And to go out like this in a rather a whimper to be, if I'm
being quite honest is is very disappointing.
Yeah, because I mean, I mean, although talk is he's said
looking in the group, you felt Scotland with a team to watch
and not as much Greece. But for me and Fen and Scotland
fans and I'm sure many other Scotland fans, the talk was very
much about Geese. It was you know, we've been
given a a pretty hard challenge at you guys and pot being the
pot to team, probably a team we didn't want to be up against
Kevin how the playoff had gone in March.
And you know, I think I'd say I mean final pro likely reminisce.
I'm I'm just surprised we're here at this point.
But you know, like I said, we could spin out effectively.
Or they are. Well, to be fair, to take our,
our record against Denmark is pretty bad, so maybe that's
where he was coming from. But yeah, I, I expected us to
compete with you guys for a second and maybe push Denmark.
You know, Denmark on paper were the weakest team that we could
have got in Part 1 and well, that's obviously not.
It's really reflective of Denmark's quality because you
knew Denmark would be difficult. We thought there was an
opportunity, but we, this team, weren't ready at this point in
time and they might be ready later down the line, we hope.
Yeah, you mentioned there obviously it's kind of a
transition period still. How do you view these games?
Obviously you said there it's about building towards Europe,
2028 and the Nation's League. How do you think the players
will will be viewing this game as well?
Because obviously you can see sometimes when there's a dead
robber game, you know, players are more relaxed, there's less
pressure and they play better. And on the flip side of that,
sometimes they don't care as much, obviously, and you can
play really badly. And obviously with this game
being such of such magnitude to Scotland and, and the World Cup
hopes, it's really intriguing for me.
And obviously a lot of Scotland has as well how Greece will
approach this game, whether they will give minutes to to to the
younger guys to kind of give them that experience going
forward, or if they will, you know, maybe look for revenge and
and try and at least go out with a with with a good note on this,
on this qualification campaign. That's what we want to see.
At the end of the day, it's not a, you know, everyone's going to
be bittersweet even if we do somehow win at the at the Athens
Olympics. Oh, no, Gyorikos Kare Skagi
Stadium. But it it, you know, at the end
of the day, that's what they have to show.
They have to show some some mental fortitude.
They have to show improvement. Yes, the pressure's off for
qualifying, but this is like, like I said, this is now
preparation for the EUR, the Nations League too, because it's
going to be incredibly difficult to even stay in the Nations
League. But if they want to show
themselves to and what they're capable of, that's what they
have to do. There are a couple of absentees
as well, Gonsanto, Unos, Mavro Banos is missing.
So it'll be an interesting one to see whether Bunny Otis, Red
Sauce starts instead or just double checking the squad now
actually, who is it? Janis Mihalidis from Bark might
get the opportunity as well. And obviously Baka and Dasos
Bakasetas is out as well. He has been injured.
So maybe that's partially why he's not only just recently come
back. So there's a couple of
interesting names missing from that team that are a bit more
experienced. So it's an opportunity for
younger players, slash players with less caps to get that
opportunity to play. So we'll have to see it.
Like I said, it's, it's all about preparation for us now and
pressures off. But in the sense of long term,
I, I want to see, I want to see a much more improved performance
than we did in October. Yeah.
I mean you, you mentioned you, you support Olympiacos, but the
Greek team's already kind of got that revenge over the Scottish
team. Unfortunately, I was in Athens
for the Ike Athens game versus Aberdeen where we we were
thrashed 6 nil. So that that was great to see.
It was not a good name for Scottish footballer at all.
Yeah, I mean, we'll we'll touch more on the squads from each
year and a wee second, but just again look back to the games of
past us because we got the previews from you both, but we
didn't get the reaction that 31V for Scotland and Hamden.
Steven, I remember Mesh, you know, we messaging you a wee bit
about that. But I mean, how did how did you
view that defeat? I mean, you talked about
complete compatulation of the team.
What's the mood been like in the Greek camp in the aftermath of
that? Oh, hugely disappointing.
I mean the the way we went in front after playing really well
for the first hour, we were excellent.
In fact, you know, we should have scored very early on in
that game against Scotland and it was nice to see Gustad to see
Mikas get his first goal, I think professional goal ever,
which is weird to say. I know he's a left back, but I
would have expected him to scored elsewhere in in
professional football. But he he dedicated that goal to
the George Bolduc who passed away last year, which was nice.
But then unfortunately a few minutes later, that's when
Scotland took the opportunity and equalised from kind of us
maybe relaxing a bit after we'd taken the lead and it just
snowballed from there. We didn't deal with your crosses
well enough in the box. We were pretty tragic.
And then Constantinos Solagis had a bit of a poor evening in
goal. It's been a bit more
inconsistent this season, unfortunately.
And you know, as as an Olympiagos fan, I, I've seen a
lot of fans who aren't supporters of Olympiagos heavily
criticize him for his performances with Greece and
with Olympiagos. And he was dropped for the next
game against Denmark. But I, I, you know, he's not the
main reason why we lost that game.
The entire team kind of just mentally fell apart in a, in an
important fixture that we, I, my opinion, needed to get at least
a draw, preferably win because we were competing, we were
competing with, we were competing with you for 2nd
place. So yeah, it, it, it dropped the
mood. And then it meant we had to go
and absolutely get a win in Copenhagen.
And I think, I know, if I recall, I don't think that
happened. You know, I think, I think we
might have lost that game quite, quite badly.
Yeah, I think that most people in Hamden are keeping a very
close eye on that game as much as well.
I was going to say, as much as they were keeping an eye on the
game, there was a cover in front of them.
But to be honest, it wasn't much a performance from Scotland in
that game either. Like you said, you guys
dominated most of that game. It just seemed to be over the
course was two games. Scotland played absolutely
fantastically for 30 minutes and it was a 30 minutes where we got
the three goals against you. But a month before that our
performances were much better talk.
We came to Copenhagen on match day one.
You said you were expecting a good performance from Scotland.
Did you? Did you foresee Copenhagen draw
in the far Copenhagen, Denmark draw in the first game at home
like that? No, that was very, very
disappointing, I say. I think also it was well, I
mean, obviously since with the results, but the worst game
Denmark has played this qualification, I think, I think
squabbling managed to make it very difficult for us.
Very good defensively, managed to do all the small things that
makes a game very difficult. But it was also a game where
they might look super, super uninspiring, like they weren't
ready at all for this tournament.
Of course, the whole Christian Eriksen not having a club, not
being called up took some attention in the in the build up
to that match. But we have gotten a lot better
since then. Played really well in Greece
also, And I'm sure you'll agree with me here, Stephen, that it
was a little bit lucky. There were some very, very
unnecessary goals given away by the the Greek defence.
And, and I think I mean, after that it was two games against
Belarus. So I still feel like we haven't
really been tested that much, but yeah, it's it's been looking
much better. So I would say I wouldn't base
too much on what happened in the first match because we are
definitely in a better state right now.
Ericsson is back. He's playing a better football
in Walsburg as well. So yeah, things are looking
better. But yeah, I would agree with
you, Scotland, definitely. They look good in that first
match. And I was pretty worried after
that one that this group was not going to be, I don't want to say
easy, but that it was going to be much harder than than I
expected it to be at least. Because, yeah, as as I mean, you
also all know that Denmark, I mean, for all the Part 1 team,
Denmark is of course is obviously the worst ones.
And, and we are pretty, we are very, very fortunate.
But having this great seeding and we want to do everything we
can to keep to keep it because once you go into Part 1, it's,
it's, it's insane how much easier qualifying is once you
don't have to get past Spain or France or Belgium, every
qualification. And it's really, that's also why
we take Nations League and all of these other things so
seriously because it is just, it's almost a cheap code being
in in Part 1. And it's definitely something.
It's even harder. It's even harder when you're in
pot free talk. Can't imagine.
Yeah, I've been there too, don't worry.
Yeah, we were extremely close to it wasn't qualification, but
obviously Euro qualification. We were so close to getting that
pot one spot for the actual tournament when we were in
Spain's group, obviously beat them at home.
We're leading away and had a goal taken off for absolutely
nothing, if you've not seen that as.
Very dubious VR decisions. I was I was front.
I was in the front row at the the stadium, Estadio de Cartusia
and and Savelle. And I've I've never seen
celebrations like that then turn into such Disney.
But God, yeah, why do we keep we keep bringing that up and it's
such a horrible memory. Yeah, I know it was it sneaks
in, but obviously not better. I mean, OK, well, I mean, I
guess I'll ask you this, Stephen, because I before we
talk about we'll get into the squad in a second, but I just
want to ask him, what do you think is is it is the geek in
terms of the geek camp? Is it deflated or is there an
element of he's been a bit vengeful?
Because I I wouldn't feel, I wouldn't be surprised if he felt
hard done by like you said, like annoyed the how the game at
Hamden played out. Do you?
Would you like to get revenge and stop us topping the grip and
playing your part in that? That's not necessarily been the
rhetoric from from the media. And I mean, the fans are
obviously pissed off, but I think the fans are kind of, I, I
mean, I'm sure this is normal from a lot of kind of respective
club teams, national team fans, but they all love to point at
certain players, scapegoat them this, that and the other.
So it's the blame is very much gone on the players and, and a
bit on Ivan Jovanovic as well. Some people have even called for
him to be sacked. But he was given the full
support of the of the Greek cafe.
And you know, he, he, his contract runs until I believe
that after the Euro 2028 qualifiers.
So, you know, he's him for the long haul.
And I I personally believe that he should at least kind of stay
until the Nations League campaign is done and dusted
because if I know it's going to be difficult.
But if if he does perform the way he has done and the Greece
show no fight and there is mental fragility, I wouldn't be
surprised if he is sacked. If we get relegated to Nation
League B, if we go down fighting, then I think that he
might be kept on. But we'll have to see.
Yeah, there's. Definitely a way to get beat.
Yes, absolutely. Especially like I said, it's
going to be incredibly difficult the the nation league game, even
the, you know, part three teams that are above us because we're
in part 4. It's going to be hugely tough to
stay in that in the in the First Division.
But in terms of the Greek players themselves that I'm sure
they'll have some determination. They'll want to prove what of
what, like I said, prove what they're capable of because
that's not the Greece team we've come to know the last year and
Ivanovich before the qualifiers began, you know, we've had, I
know we lost to England at home in at the Olympic Stadium and we
lost to Scotland in the first leg of the Nations League play
offs. But that didn't feel the same
way of how and how we were defeated compared to these
qualifiers. And so that they need to stamp
that out as soon as possible because if that continues, it's
just going to spiral and get worse and worse and worse.
And, and Turk made a good point, like we Greece, take the Nations
League hugely seriously. I mean, we're, we're actually
the second, we have the second best record of any team in the
Nations League behind Portugal. That's how well we how much
we've taken it seriously because we've gone all the way from
Nations League C all the way up to Nations League A and our so
our record is really, really good ever since the Nations
League came about. Yeah, we, we, we've done the
same thing. We were started in, we started
in League C as well. We went all the way up to League
A and then unfortunately, as you'd know very well, obviously
got relegated last time to to League B.
So good luck with staying in. We actually got quite fortunate,
I think with with our part with our group.
Obviously had some tough teams like Portugal and Croatia, but
to get Poland in there was a blessing that we didn't
capitalize on. How was the kind of feel around
the camp going into these qualifiers?
Because I think with a lot of fans, especially from Scotland
side side of things, at least there was kind of this
assumption that it would be just another one of those campaigns
where we don't make it because our form going into this was
abysmal. Obviously I'd lost to Iceland
and a friendly, our form was really not good.
So there was kind of a lot of calls actually to to Sak Steve
Clark at the time around the, the qualifiers starting.
And on the flip side of things, obviously from at least my side
of view and James's view as well as I've heard when, when that
group came out, I actually thought Greece was maybe the
strongest team. Obviously we know Denmark's
qualy qualifying for I don't even know how many tournaments
in a row now. But obviously with that, with
that Greece team looking so good at Hampton, when we were all
there, we we kind of thought it might be might be Greece's time.
We hope so too. And we, we also hope that after
miss just missing out on EUR 2024 in the playoff final, we
hope that that would kind of give the more experienced
players that sort of learning curve where they could take that
and help the younger players progress further.
There wasn't an, like I said, there wasn't an expectation, but
there was hope with the way in which we we'd been playing in
the Nations League, the way in which we'd been playing in our
friendlies as well, and the team that we've assembled where we
felt like we finally have depth in areas and just such high
quality, such high potential. But you know, this is, this is
reflective of Greece even before we've we've had such a talented
squad in the last 12 years. That's six tournaments in a row
now we've missed. That's really damning.
If we miss a well, even if we, yeah, if we miss EUR 2028, that
will equal and beat our longest record of not qualifying for a
major tournament between because we when we first qualified for a
major tournament in 1980, there was a long gap between the next
one in 1994 when we qualified for the World Cup.
That if we don't qualify for the EUR now that will beat the
record if I'm not mistaken. So we this is now more like now
or never for this for this Grease team.
Well, we know everything. We can talk to you at length
about being out in the cold for a while.
Because I first got on that was what, 20 years?
I'm forgetting numbers 19. 88 to 2020 or 2021 if you can't go
with as well. Well, yeah, so yeah, no, but we
know, we know the feeling. It's not a good one.
Coming onto the squads. We'll go into game first.
We'll start with Greece. You mentioned potential injuries
back Asetus avenger. They've also got down here
marvel panel big messes you feel or again in a game.
You may be looking to change things up.
Maybe not so much because I can see you've also got a man that
mania have high B will be familiar with as nectar
Triantis. Yes, that is not right.
Yeah. He's in for the first time, so I
mean, talk us through it. What's your thoughts on overall
selection? Well, like I said, I I'm hopeful
that Jovanovic gives these players a go.
Diane, this is a really intriguing midfielder and he's
doing really, really well in MLS.
He's not really a more of an attacking player, but he's
scoring some ridiculous goals when we when we've seen it on
social media and Bobby scores Stoolas in.
I mean, he's such a talented player.
Of course, Stoolas, I mean, the, the money that Brighton spent on
him to take him to, to out of Olipiagos.
I we didn't expect such a big fee.
And apparently we even turned down a €40 million offer for
other talented midfielder Christos Mouzaki.
This who's in the Greece squad as well.
So thank goodness he didn't tell both of them in the same window.
That would have been devastated. But yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm excited
to see both of them play. Hopefully they do get
opportunities because like I said, this is the perfect time
to do so considering pressures off in terms of qualifying Mavra
Banos from being missed, I think under normal circumstances would
be a shame. But his club form has started to
leak into his national team form, which hadn't happened
beforehand. So even though he hasn't been
that great at West Ham, he was always able to consistently find
his form for Greece. And so at that point I wasn't
really, it didn't really matter to me how badly he played at
West Ham, but now it really does.
And for Baca Sethas, I mean, he's always been a A when he's
ever since he was made captain, he's been a good leader off the
pitch. He hasn't really done anything I
think that badly wrong. But like I said, from what I
recall, I think he's out injured or he's come back, but he's not
quite fully fit yet. So that's why he's not been
included. But Mavra Banos wasn't injured.
So that is an interesting one. That's the more intriguing one
to not have be called up because as far as I'm aware he's fit and
so maybe something's happened. I don't know, don't want to
speculate. But yeah, if if he misses these
fixtures, it's not necessarily the end of the world.
Fair enough. I mean, I mean, when you talk
about experiment and changing things up a bit, as a Scotland
fan, I think I'd far prefer to be up against the Greek side
that's, you know, trying to work things out a bit and maybe not
sticking with a trade and tested method that's won your games
with four Finn. I don't know if you've got
something you're wanting to come in on about that.
No, yeah, from my point of view, I hope that they're testing a
completely new squad. I hope they start a squad of 15
year olds, obviously get get at least a point.
Obviously it'd be ideal to win out in Greece, but I think a
point is is the bare minimum, hopefully to at least get that
back to Hamden with the possibility of qualification
with a win. And March after that we come
back to Hamden, let you say Denmark.
Talk about changes in your squad as well.
I'm going to butcher the pronunciation here.
The left back is your human male, male, male.
Oh, I was close. I was close.
Dolberg School, Olsen, all three out injured guys have started
for you as well. Big messes.
Mostly I would say melee is the big miss.
He is a really, really good defender.
Can play both fullbacks actually he's he's right legged so better
on the right side, but he's been playing a lot on on the left
side. Often preferred over Doggo as
well because he's simply better at defending than Doggo is.
When we are playing with only four at the back, we need a full
back that can defend, where Doggo can do a lot of things,
but defending is not really one of them.
So he is a, he's a big myth. Of course, not having him in.
That has been the big story of the Danish team is that we have
called out Nicholas Naze from Stuttgart, which is it's, it's
one that has people surprised, very, very surprised because
he's a natural, natural midfielder, central midfielder.
But apparently he has been playing a little bit on the left
back so they called him up, thought he was the best choice
for left back. He's played 35 matches in the
last Four Seasons for Stuttgart because he's just been injured
all the time. I think he played eight matches
something last season. Nobody really knows him in
Denmark. It's he's 25 years old, almost
26. He's not a big talent anymore.
I mean, he was good when he was young, but it's it's very, very
surprising. Even his younger brother is has
won two consecutive young playoff the month awards in the
Danish league. So he's not even the best Nazi
brother of of them. So it's it's it's nobody had
predicted he would be on the on the national team this time.
It's it's it's a big surprise. I don't think he will start
though. I think they probably end up
playing either last month Christmas or Patrick Tolko on
the left. But if we get an injury, if
we're unlucky, he will be thrown for the he'll be thrown in and
and I think that could get ugly. I I really don't see him having
the level or the fitness to be playing in such a such an
important match now. Yeah, you also mentioned goals
and and and Dolpur. Both of them are more little bit
more depth players. Dolpur has started some matches
disqualification but. With the with the form Rasmus
Hoyland is in for Napoli this season.
Of course, Dalbez nowhere near the optimal lineup, but we are
bit weak if Hoyland doesn't start because William Mosula
from Newcastle is also doubtful he might not make the squad.
He was out this Champions League week for Newcastle against
Bilbeo and it's not certain that you'll be ready for the national
team. So if he is also doubtful and
and by the way, he hasn't played much for Newcastle, obviously he
still has hasn't made his debut for the national team either.
So behind Hoyeland we are very weak.
We have Jonas Wynn from Mossberg, but he's not a true #9
he's more as a deep line striker.
So I would say that our depth is, is weakened.
Our starting line up is it's fine apart from the left back,
maybe a bit weak, but our depth is definitely not what what we
had hoped for. Yeah, I remember Mailer
obviously in the €2020.00 if I'm not mistaken being absolutely
incredible, one of the best boys in tournament.
Do you think obviously you mentioned that the depth is the
the main thing that you're worried more about, but do you
think that there is any weaknesses that you you're maybe
you think there there is that Scotland can exploit?
Or on the flip side, is there any players in particular in the
Scotland squad that you are maybe thinking?
Focus on them, double team them, make sure he doesn't get the
ball. I would say that one issue we've
had is that most of our defenders have been on the
national team for quite a long time, but we've been forced to
switch out a lot, do a lot of substitution from match to match
due to injuries. And Les Christensen has been
injured most of this season for Barcelona for example.
So there are some question marks about around some of the better
players and their match fitness. They haven't played as much as
we would want them to and and even in this qualification, they
haven't played together as much as we want them to because
especially defensively, you want your centre back to play the
same two guys all the time. So they get really, really close
to each other. But we haven't really gotten
that. We've had to switch around on
the on the on the left, on the right back and of course now on
the left back. So I think there could be some
some of those small relations you only get by playing together
for a lot of matches that could be amazing a little bit.
I think that's something Scotland can can exploit.
We are pretty good physically, but of course I always fear
Robertson has really good crosses and everything.
But I think we can bring in either Vistaco or your Humanis
and they are they can win most headers.
But yeah, I saw in the first match that you definitely have
some strong strikers. They're strong in the box.
And if you are allowed to, to throw in the to, to, to have a
lot of crosses and, and, and attackers like that, I think
that could get could get dangerous also.
I think our yeah, I feel after these two matches, especially in
the second game, I assume you're going to beat Belarus and do
that pretty comfortably. So we're not going to be, we're
not going to be too rough before the other match here.
But we do have some players that don't get as much playing time
as we want or have been injured. So maybe in the second, maybe in
the second match towards the end, guys like Hoyland, guys
like Christensen, Erickson who've either been injured and
alcohol from Arsenal, who's either been injured or just
sitting on the bench. They might like a few
percentages which you only get by playing 90 minutes almost
every week. And yeah, too many of our
players haven't done that. That would be my my main
concern. I mean, well, it certainly
sounds like both. You aren't as happy with your
squads as you could be, or at least you know, there could be
more, you could be more players aren't involved.
That could be our experience or whatever, things like that.
I think me and Fenner, we're not across the board.
The squad is the Scotland squad. Midfield is looking very strong.
We're not messing anybody. They're the goalkeeping
departments not looking good as such.
That's something that we're just going to have to deal with,
messing our first choice goalkeeper with our last two
performances. We obviously started quite well
in September. Good result in Copenhagen, good
result awaited Belarus. That's a bananas can for scoring
in some respects. Maybe stepped over that came
into the matches last month, only month flair and the
performances were massively off that.
Very disappointing from the the Scotland fan perspective when we
played Belarus at home actually, obviously due to the timings and
you guys playing after us went to us top of the group.
And you might not believe this, but Hamden Park, when Filtham
Wessel went, as we went top of the group, booze rung round the
stadium because of how disappointed the fans were of
the performance. It was just so far off.
So I don't know uncharacteristic even, you know, by what Scotland
standards. Remember, not at that.
I mean, I'll come to how Stephen, I'll touch you.
You obviously know, but more so because you played us last
month. You saw how pair we were in the
first half and for parts of the second talk you either of you
can come on this how actually no talks.
I've got talk first because he's not how aware we are you of the
fact that Scotland haven't fans and the media haven't been happy
with how the last two games have won, haven't been happy with how
we've performed despite getting the results.
I'll be honest, there haven't been too much coverage of the
Scottish team. I mean, we follow the results
and everything. And I think if people in
Denmark, football fans in Denmark asked about the Scottish
team, the main thing they will talk about is how good the Scott
McDaniel is for for Napoli and that whole rejuvenation there.
But the actual the Scottish national team and, and how you
like the atmosphere around that and everything hasn't been too
much. Of course, there's also so many
other things going on in the world of football and, and, and
we have plenty of our own stories.
So I would say the the general knowledge about the Scottish
team situation is I think they're waiting, saving all of
those stories until we we play you.
And then of course, they were starting to be an experts and,
and and tell that whole whole story also depends a lot, I'm
sure on the on your result in in, in Greece, in in the other
match here. But yeah, I'm I'm a bit
surprised that there's unhappiness and everything
because, yeah, I mean, it seems pretty interesting with going
into this last match. Looks like you've done pretty
good. Looks like at least at the time
I can remember football that this is the best the national
team has been in in some time. At least now you're at the
tournaments again. So yeah, it surprises me a
little bit. But I'm sure once the game start
that that there must be everybody will be behind the
team and and and that there will be a lot of pressure on on the
Danish players. Yeah, I mean, we, we know we can
reach the levels because you've seen it.
You saw it in Copenhagen. We were, we were very good.
There was a very organized, compact, resilient performance
from Scotland. Didn't get a lot of chances, but
we came away with a no, no draw. A lot can change in a month.
Stephen, what Scotland team are you expecting to come to Athens
on Saturday night? Because like you said, you saw
us hope everywhere at Hamden against you, be it for half an
hour at the end to manage to make things work.
Like I've just said there, the Belarus game really wasn't much
better. 21 is quite a nervous score line to be running up
against a very lowly ranked side.
What are your expectations about us coming in?
Well, firstly, I guess because I live in the UK and I live in
London, you know, obviously there is a bit more coverage of
Scotland in here, especially with all the home nations.
But I, I mean, the way in which Scotland beat us in the end
didn't surprise me because this is what I've seen Scotland do.
They, they sucker punch teams after overall, maybe not being
the better team throughout a game.
And they'll take an opportunity when it comes and, and get and
get the win or get the result. And so, well, obviously, maybe
I'm sure obviously you guys, you know, it's your national team
and you follow them every time that they play.
But despite the maybe lacking quality compared to other
nations of like more other footballing nations, what I
think you guys do have is mental fortitude.
And that was reflective of what, of how you managed to beat us
because we can Greece have like have been well documented even
in this country, you know, in the UK and in England, when
Greece beat England at Wembley and when we beat Scotland in the
in the nation league player final and being a bit more
coverage because of the kind of more high, high profile
potential players that are coming through of the quality
that we have. But the biggest thing that I've
been saying this whole these whole qualifiers is that we
lack, we lack the mentality. We lack that that those moments
where, you know, everyone bands together and focuses and there
was such a lack of focus and a lack of concentration and
everyone just dropped. It happened again against
Denmark. The moment the first goal went
in, heads dropped completely when we played them in in in
Copenhagen. And that happened after you went
two nil up against us. We tried a bit more after you
equalised, but that was it. And that that's again, I know I
keep sound like a broken record, but that's something we have to
work on. So I'd, I'd rather do what we
did, what Greece used to do under Fernando Santos, where we
bored the bored the absolute hell out of teams, but always
got the result. We were a tough team to break
down. We lacked, we didn't have the
quality we do now when we qualified for the World Cup in
2014. But that team when on the, I
think the longest unbeaten run of any Greece team ever, 17
games unbeaten. At one point we were eighth in
the FIFA world rankings. Once when we were champions
going into Euro 2008 long time ago now and the other time when
we went into the I think it was EUR 20, the Euro 2012 or EUR
2014. Oh, sorry, World Cup 2014.
I can't remember, but I'd, I'd rather see us play terrible
football there and qualify then attempt to play good football,
which you know, this team, this current team is capable of
doing, but lacking the lacking the ideas when when things get
tough. And so in terms of going back to
what you said about what I can expect from Scotland in this
game, I, I expect you guys to be just as ruthless in the moments
that matter. And I think that you'll, you
know, it, it, it because you guys, even though you've
qualified for the playoffs and well, there's no guarantee
you'll get through those, you still have a chance of finishing
top of the group. So I fully expect Steve Clarke
and his players to come and aim to do as much as they can to
finish, finish top of the group. Whereas like, like I said with
us, I want to see a response. But at the end of the day, this
for us, this is about consolidation and preparation.
Yeah, I mean, you touched on it there as well.
I think that's one of our strongest attributes.
Obviously over the last couple of years, we have had the
resurgence of players like like Tom and a Karen T and Andy
Robertson have been mainstays in in big teams over the years.
But I think one of one of the the biggest key attributes to
our success, if you can call it that, in recent years has been
the the constant presence of these these kind of key players
in the squad. Obviously, when Steve Clark took
over, there wasn't really a plethora of players with a lot
of experience in the national team.
A lot of players were under 2020 caps, 15 caps, even 10 caps.
And over the years, he kind of built this core in in the group
where you can rely on those players to turn up when it
matters and also just be there in general and have that
experience and that and that that no say where they've been
here before. You know, we've been in the
playoffs of the World Cup against Ukraine, failed there.
We've been in the play offs against Serbia for the EUR.
We qualified there and we obviously qualified directly to
to Euro 2024. So it's kind of been this, you
know, at times there's been this resentment maybe to Steve Clark
in the way he does things, but the results have shown and and
we're in a position now where we can qualify for the World Cup.
And then a question for you, T.O.K.
Obviously in in my lifetime at least, Denmark has from the
majority of it been a presence at these tournaments.
Obviously casting further back they've they weren't really
well, maybe not expected, but they weren't there for every
tournament. Whereas in recent times as the
national team has progressed, they've qualified for for a lot
of tournaments in a row. What kind of has that brung to
the national team in in a sense of from the fans now?
Is there an expectation to to at least qualify for these
tournaments and then see what you can do in these tournaments
and what pressure does that bring to the players?
And then lastly, if you did qualify, would you be going to
the USA? That's a lot of questions.
Let's let's take it from from the start.
Yeah. So this is, of course, apart
from the from the late 80s where we had an amazing team way
before before I can. Yeah, I was born even it's in my
lifetime. This is the golden era of, of,
of the Danish national team. I mean, my, the first tournament
I can remember was in 98 when we had the Laoco brothers Smigeland
goal. But I was, I was a kid then.
Then we had a lot of years of of basically what, what the
Schaffer went through and, and I think what what Greek has Greece
has went through as well with subpar national team, really
poor performance. As I remember, we we finally
qualified for the World Cup in 2010 and we brought a player
player from the Danish second tier to the tournament.
And it was just terrible. But yeah, then we obviously we
had that hero in 2020 or 2021 as it actually was where we went to
the semi final. And, and I think also that
tournament, as amazing as it was and I've never seen as much hype
and togetherness around the Danish team also brought maybe a
little bit of, or it definitely brought unrealistic expectations
for the World Cup in, in Qatar. There were people seriously
talking about that we had a chance of winning it.
And, and people were talking about, oh, we can go so far.
And reality was that we looked our team on, on paper, it wasn't
that good. I mean, it was worse than in
2021. I think our current team now is
also worse than in 2021. At that tournament.
We have so many players who just hit the form of their life going
into that tournament, the seasons of their life at that,
around that tournament. And now it's it's not on the
same level. I mean, it's still good and the
expectations are still very, very high, but it's it's, it's
not at the same level. And I think the the team is also
struggling a little bit that there have been players who
admitted that they felt, especially going into the last
World Cup, that expectations, which is unrealistic that and
they talked them up as well themselves.
So, so it was not completely the media, the fans thought it was
also the players who who got caught up in the hype.
But but yeah, I, I think the expectations are very high from
the fans. They not only want us to
qualify, but they also want to see good football, entertaining
football. And, and that is very tough to
live up, live up to. But I do think we had a much
better space than Qatar. We had a much better space than
in the last qualification for the Euro and, and, and for the
Euro itself was pretty disappointing for us, even
though we wouldn't be qualified. I think we are better now,
playing better, getting more out of the players we have, getting
more out of the team, the squad. So we are moving in a good
direction. But I'm not going into the World
Cup if we qualify. I don't want to jinx anything
with expectations of us doing anything amazing.
If we just make it out of the group, I'm happy.
I think that will be the official goal.
From there we will see. But yeah, the magic of 2021 is
is is gone. Regarding if I would go to the
tournament, depends on where we play the matches.
I feel like with everything going on politically, I don't
really want to do have anything to do with the USA at all.
I don't I don't really want to give them my money.
Maybe if we end up playing in Mexico, Canada, I would look at
it. But I mean, I just saw the other
day now that FIFA have made this Peace Prize that I guess they
would give to Donald Trump as as to bribe him a little bit.
So I think I will keep my hands very far away from from that
tournament. It's a bit too dirty for me.
Yeah, I think the base camp for me would definitely be Mexico or
Canada. I'd be hoping and praying that
our matches would be in Vancouver or or Mexico City.
Yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of Scottish expats,
there's a lot of Scottish expats in America as well, but there's
definitely a lot in Canada. And I just feel it could be a
really good, I feel it could be a really good atmosphere up that
way. If we were to get games up
there, especially if I've been playing cards as well, they'd be
the pot one side and they'd be an easier pot one side.
So thinking about it tactically, not just what's a good holiday
and a good pint, I suppose we're getting Steven View we want.
Yes, I was just going to say that's the biggest, one of the
biggest shames for Greece, because the biggest load of
expats in the world outside of Greece is is in the USA.
And so for for Greek Americans, that would have been.
Amazing, I see that a lot on Tech Talk.
One of my. Family's friends is half half
Greek, half American and he lived in the States for a long
time as well. It was, it was a shame with the
Euros in Germany as well, because I think Germany's not as
much as UKUSA and Australia, but there's a lot of Greeks in
Germany as well. So that, that was a huge shame
again, so, you know, it's why hopefully we can qualify for
the, the, the EUR here, because then there's a load loads of
Greeks here too. So it'd be nice to and and I'd
I'd get an opportunity to go see those games as well if if Greece
qualified for the USA, Fingers crossed.
I mean, you, I would, I would back you to a fair.
But I know what, it's funny you say that though, because when
after the game at Hamden, I got a lot of Greek reactions on my
timeline and I was surprised by how many of them were American.
That really caught me off guard. But yeah, like you said, I mean
like the Scots you get, we get about clearly, I guess we're
coming towards the end of the podcast, but I've got 2
protections I want to ask from you.
So I'll go to you first talk from the match and I'll, I'll,
I'll do it in a way. So I'm not asking to comment on
your own games, but the match in Athens, Greece versus Scotland,
do you expect Scotland to return to Hamden from that match with
still an opportunity to get first place?
Or do you think Greece might get something right for the first
time so far this campaign? No, from what I've seen this
qualification, I was, I expect Scotland to to get at least a
point. I mean, I think it doesn't
really change too much for you. I think a point or or when
either way you have to to defeat us unless you win with what, 5
or 6 goals? So I would be very surprised if
if, if, if you don't, if you're not in it before the last round,
if you end up losing, that would be surprising for me.
So yeah, I I definitely have Scotland.
That's the favorite going into this match.
Yeah, I think, I mean between me and Fen, I don't know.
I don't know offend. I've much.
I spoke to him about this. Yeah, but I've got I do I think.
I think March has given me confidence.
I think March has given me a bit of confidence and thinking we
could maybe get a result with our draw is achievable.
I just hate the idea of playing for a draw though because it's
just not the way you go about things really.
Yeah, I think from my point of view, I've got so many nerves
were in the game on Saturday. I mean all all this talk is
about the game a Hampton against Denmark kind of just assuming
that will. So we're at a point in Greece,
but I think that's harder than just saying that out loud.
I think it's going to be a tough game, but.
It will be. I think, like you made a good
point earlier as well as I think we've seen this with Scotland.
When the pressure's off, sometimes that's when the better
performances come out. And I'm slightly cautious of
that being the case with these because I think, Stephen, you
said that in previous podcast away form had been good for
Greece, home form hadn't been so good because the fans were quite
intense or you know, on the players backs, a lot of the
squads quite young, maybe not quite ready to handle that
pressure. But as no, the pressures off a
bat, like you said, the new process is beginning this
learning curve how they take it going on to the Nations League
and such, I don't know. I'm not.
I'd like to hope we get something, but I'm only saying
that because I've just forked out selling money for flights to
Athens. So let's say that anyway,
Steven, assuming Scotland to get a positive result like in in the
offense, let's say we get a draw.
Who do you expect to top the group?
Sorry boys, it's still going to be the Danes.
So it's a playoff and I'm again in March for Scotland in your in
your books. I think so, yeah, I I just think
Denmark's experience in qualifying for stuff
consistently and it and, and in individual matches where they
can just turn it on when they need to, maybe despite the
quality that Toca was talking about, I just think that
experience will pull them through.
I think it'll they'll get to the the World Cup proper and you
guys, well, unfortunately you have to face the dreaded
playoffs. Hopefully you don't get anyone
too difficult, but there are some tough teams even in the
third part as well. I've seen a few.
Italy, Italy's well, not far pot, but you got you're going to
have to play someone at some point from the top pot or no
likelihood. So no, it's not, it's not the
way we want to go about it. Automatic qualification would by
far be easiest way to go about it.
I mean, like I'm just I've got I've Adidas.
It's Adidas's fault. They've got mentor 8 friends
over the last couple of days releasing these cats early World
Cup quit cat cats. That's what the, you know, the
dominant, it's a World Cup release and then, you know,
Scotland, Ireland and Wales are up there because we're still in
with the run. And I think there's the World
Cup ad there. They've they've done with
Luminium Al Lino, Messi and that.
And on the front of the newsstand where the girls can be
all about World Cup, there's a Scotland jersey on the front.
And I think I'm sure you can get bagpipes on radio.
I might just misheard that and put that in there myself.
But it has, weirdly, this marketing campaign has given me
confidence. I don't know where it's come
from, but it's got me up for it. So yeah, I just been in talk.
I mean, I don't, I don't know what you've got any further
thoughts on that? Yeah, I think what would be
really interesting before this last match is also obviously
Denmark will be in a draw will be enough for us because our
goal difference, so I think. Yeah, that's really against us
having we have to win. Exactly.
And and I mean, you did very well in the first match, as we
as we said, but you also sat back a lot.
I mean, I haven't seen Scotland too much when they had to go up
and actually dominate and create the match.
I mean, also in the previous tournaments, I feel like this
strategy was always to sit back, go countless attack the
opponents at the right time. But here really like there's
there's no other matches is if this match you have to win and
it would be interesting when Denmark can be the team that
sits back, wait for the right moment.
I don't think we would go and play defensively apart the boss
or anything, but we definitely don't have to create the match
And and and I think maybe describe his team will lack a
little bit of creativity there. I feel like it's not really a
team that is set up to break down defenses and dominate
matches. And I think that could be a
challenging thing. And that's, that's also why I'm,
I'm more confident before this match, despite all the away and
everything that I think you might struggle going into to a
match like this and, and actually have to create stuff on
your own and not being able to, to play a little bit more
cautious where I think that's your strongest side, at least
from what I've seen. Yeah, because I definitely
think, I definitely think Scotland benefit from situations
where we it's not a must win and you know, we can keep our cards
closer to her chest in that respect because you know,
Denmark can come and they can send and they have the quality
to get us on the break. And I think what you said, we're
not a team that's going to like dominate an attacking sense.
And we were really doing well with Mctominy in that regard in
the 20 year 24 campaign and sensing teams have it was less
of a known quantity at that point especially.
And then an attacking sense where there's no he has, he's a
household name in Italy. You know, he's where as well
documented what he can do. And I think Scotland are now
trying to find a way to get the best out of him when you know,
he's not a surprise package. People know double up on
McDonald, make sure he's the guy you're packing up.
That was a good discussion guys. I'd like to thank you both so
much for coming on. Like I said, two huge games
coming up for Scotland. Can we do it?
Can we get to the World Cup automatic qualification?
That moment at Hampden when a full time whistle goes and the
lead comes off the place would just be sensational because we
didn't get it. He's getting ahead of himself.
Again, then we didn't get it Yep, that's Stephen.
I'm sorry that's that you know, I need to start thinking about
gaming offense more than the one Hamden on Tuesday night.
But yeah, it'd just be incredible to be in that
situation, but not again. Thank you so much both for
coming on again. Because the first two podcasts
were very good, but few people writing in and saying good
things about us and recommending it to other people based on how
good it was. So it's been nice to get you all
along again. It's been it's been quite a
civil chat for, you know, given Steven Stephen might have been
coming here bearing a bit of a grudge against us.
Talk still with our World Cup aspiration is still still on.
So I'd like to thank you both again.
It's been lovely speaking to you, Fenn.
Good as always to talk to you mate.
Glad to have you on the podcast. Help me out with this one.
And well, good luck to Scotland. I'm sure if you're watching and
or you're the games, make sure you're supporting the boys as
much as possible. They'll definitely be needing
it. I've seen some crazy things over
the years at Hamden so I just my rallying cry to the Tartan Army
would be back the team from the first whistle to the last
because Yep, it wasn't good last month.
October was far from ideal. The performances and I think the
booze were the booze were merited in some respect.
I never liked to be myself but that's the way it went.
But the players knew it was bad, the manager and it was bad.
It's behind us now, so if we're going to show up for this
potential 90 minutes a hand and make sure you're given that
you're all for the team because we can achieve something here
potentially. Yeah.
And just before we wrap up, I just want to give the
opportunity for both of you just to say where we everyone
listening can find joblessly of. Course you.
I don't think the vote is closed yet for the Football awards.
It has, yes. It closed couple weeks ago.
Yeah. Yeah, it did.
Yes. We, we, we are nominated in the
Football Content Awards, Hellas Football podcast.
As anyone who did vote for us, we really appreciate your
support and I'll be going there in a few weeks to the finals to
soak it up as as nominees. I'm looking forward to that.
And if you want to find anything that we do at Hellas Football,
it's at Hellas Footy on X on Facebook and on Instagram for
updates on Greek football, the podcast you can find on any
podcast platform you listen to your podcast on, whether that be
Spotify, Apple Music or anything else.
And me personally, you can find me at Steve Konturu.
That's KOUNTOUROU Long surname, as I've said before.
But yeah, it's been lovely. Chang guys and all the best.
You know, Greece may be out, but at least I have Cyprus who are
also out, but they're also fun to watch.
So I've got two teams to to to watch in the international
break. I've already gone.
Followed you now, Steven. So pleasure that'll.
Be your your first new follower. Yeah, yeah, you can.
You can find me at the token T that's T OK E and then the
thelate THEILAD on Twitter or X as it's called now.
And yeah, if you if you feel like you want to read about 1
brilliant Danish or if you want to learn new language, just like
Google Translate, it's it's Bill Ford Park dot DK.
We also have a podcast and yeah, a lot of coverage of of Louis
brings if you want to keep learning more about the
potential new Scottish national team player.
OK, Phil, thanks very much for that, guys.
Obviously, we will tag you both. When we put the socialsness,
hopefully you'll see lots of content about the game and this
podcast across different platforms, Tech talk, Instagram
and X. So keep your eyes peeled for,
well, maybe you've already seen it and that's how you've ended
up listening. So if you have, thanks very
much. Hope you've enjoyed the episode.
I hope you're just as excited as me and Finn are for these two
games. Like I said, two massive games.
One last thing before you go, I'll just ask you if you could,
if you enjoyed the episodes, make sure you go and rate it.
Whatever you listen to your podcasts, no matter what metric
that is for that. I think Spotify, you can rate US
five stars. Things like that goes a long
way. It's much appreciated.
Obviously a lot of work goes into the accounts. 5 big news
recently, obviously transitioned from everything Scotland to
Football Park Scotland, so you'll definitely see hopefully
I it was good we what we did before was really good, but this
will hopefully give us a platform to create bad content,
you know bring more regular. Person set, hopefully soon.
Oh, you. Never know, You never know.
Only studio. You can always dream.
No teasers. No teasers.
Yeah, exactly. But no, hopefully more to come.
We'll definitely catch up with you after these games.
It's quite a tight turn around and I think a few of us will be
busy. I'll know I'll be won't be
available. I'll be in Athens so hopefully
drowning myself and me forcing heroes.
So yeah, definitely. But no.
Then once again, thanks for coming on.
I was good to have. You very much enjoy yourself
while in your Athens. I certainly hope I do.
It's a long way to. Go we all do all right yeah,
there enjoys Well, thank you very much for listening and
we'll see you next time guys. Listen.
To the noise.