Italia ‘90 “bouncebackability” cited for how Scotland can rebound from “devastating” play-off loss

Alex McLeish maintains Steve Clarke can rely on the inner-strength of the current squad as he is confronted by the task of lifting Scotland for their Nations League opener at home to Armenia on Wednesday.

McLeish cites his experience of helping the nation scaled the heights after they had plumbed the depths in Italia ‘90 as evidence of how quickly a side of bloody-minded Scotsmen can recover from a gut-wrenching punch as winding as the loss to Ukraine. A 3-1 reverse that ended hopes of bringing to a close a 22-year exile from the World Cup finals. “I look back to Italy in 1990,” he said. “We lost the first game to Costa Rica but we showed the resilience, the bouncebackability, that’s needed now. Our nation has always seemed to have that. And that’s why I think these boys are capable of doing exactly that. We got hammered after losing to Costa Rica and the chat was there was going to be nine dropped for the Sweden game – and my name was in there too…So when I ended up getting picked I thought, ‘right I’m going to play a stormer’. It’s that Scotsman inside you that makes you want to do that. and we came back and performed against Sweden, to win 2-1. And these lads have got those capabilities.

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