The night a Scotland team died in Portugal - why Steve Clarke advised to pay no heed to Lisbon taxi drivers
Scotland hope to avoid same fate as Andy Roxburgh’s 1993 side
There is no cross to mark the spot. No bunch of withered flowers. Locals making the most of the last days of summer in bright September sunshine jarred with an urge to pay one’s respects.
It is well established that a death occurred here at the original Stadium of Light on 28 April 1993. “Stunned Scotland’s darkest hour,” was one newspaper headline as the national side’s hopes of qualifying for a sixth successive World Cup went up in smoke. Portugal 5 Scotland 0. The night a team died. It’s gone down in Scottish football folklore. It's why visiting the stadium last night in these latest tremulous times for the Scottish national football team felt oddly fitting. Although subsequently demolished and rebuilt, it’s still the Stadium of Light – or Estadio da Luz. It was here Scotland fell to their heaviest defeat since a painful 5-0 thrashing by England at Hampden in 1973 to spark just another of many Scottish football inquests held over the years.
“Scottish football is in a hell of a state and the sooner the papering over the cracks stops the better,” wrote Alex Cameron in the Daily Record. “Portugal, hardly a citadel of football greatness, broke the secret that Scotland are rotten.”
The Edinburgh Evening News asked: What has gone wrong with the Scotland national team? “Too slow”, “coaching not good enough” and “don’t care, I am only interested in club football”, were just some of the answers from an on-street vox pop.
They could all be responses if the same question was asked today – and of course it is being asked. It cannot be avoided with Steve Clarke's side on a run of just one win in 13 international matches ahead of this evening's Nations League fixture against Portugal.
It isn't getting any easier as they return to the scene of that five-goal defeat 31 years ago with hearts made heavier by the news of legendary former Liverpool skipper Ron Yeats' death at the age of 86. The Aberdonian played twice for Scotland at a time of fierce competition for places.
It is grimly ironic that the team could be wearing black armbands on their first visit to Lisbon since that infamous night when Richard Gough, a defensive colossus in the vein of Yeats at Liverpool, saw his international career come to a premature end.
The Rangers defender fell out with Roxburgh afterwards. Gough later claimed Roxburgh had based some of his tactical workings against Portugal on a chat with a Lisbon taxi driver.
Clarke has been warned. Do not pay any heed to friendly locals’ views on football. Although never mind taxi drivers, he was more concerned about the travel arrangements that saw Scotland land late in Portugal last night and then face a two-hour drive to Lisbon. Judging from the look on Clarke's face at last night's pre-match press conference, it was not the time to ask whether he had gained any tactical insight about the opposition from the bus driver on the heavily delayed journey to the stadium. It never rains but it pours. Clarke was at least able to confirm there were no injuries and everyone was fit - if a little weary - and available for selection. While as tight-lipped as ever on personnel matters, he did confirm that Ben Doak, who produced a lively cameo against Poland, would not start. The teenager is still on the comeback from injury. "He's not ready to play 90 minutes," said the manager. "He's certainly not ready to play 90 minutes at this level. We will try to bring him along slowly over the next couple of years."
Never mind the night a team died, Clarke is focused on rejuvenating his currently faltering Scotland side. He was spared the heavy defeat in Lisbon when a player due to being on an international sabbatical. The Chelsea defender was between caps at the time, with his previous appearance having been as far back as 1988. His next and last one was in 1994.
The manager finds himself wrestling with some of the same dilemmas that preoccupied Roxburgh before facing the Portuguese on a do-or-die night for Scotland as they battled to qualify for USA 94. They had to win to put themselves back in the qualifying equation. Like Clarke now, Roxburgh swithered between playing a back four or a back five. He opted for three at the back, with Dave McPherson in the middle flanked by Gough and Craig Levein. The visitors were two down by the interval, Jorge Cadete, who later joined Celtic, scoring on the stroke of half time. Three more goals followed in the second half as Scotland were torn asunder and Ally McCoist was carried off with a fractured leg with seven minutes left. Already 5-0 down and forced to play the rest of the match with ten men having used all their substitutes, there was some relief that it finished 5-0. “A team died out there,” Roxburgh was reported to have said afterwards. Even now the epitaph is instantly recognised as a reference to that game, although, interestingly, only two of the 13 players used that night, Gough and Jim McInally, did not feature again for Scotland.
There is not the same sense of an ending at present with Clarke although many might be willing it if things go as seriously awry again this evening. It’s unlikely any current international career is at risk, though one player, if selected, is operating under considerable pressure.
Grant Hanley has been pilloried since his rash tackle on Nicola Zalewski handed Poland the opportunity to gain all three points in Scotland’s first top-flight Nations League clash on Thursday night.
Clarke must decide whether to stick with the back four or return to a back five, with the latter, more defensively robust arrangement perhaps the wisest course of action given Scotland are about to be introduced to Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro for the first time.
At the age of 39, the forward will make his debut against Scotland in his 214th appearance for his country.
He will be licking his lips at the prospect of adding to his tally of 131 international goals against a team who have conceded 31 goals in their last 13 outings. Ronaldo was injured the last time the countries met, when Portugal won a friendly 3-1 at Hampden six years ago. He remains a potent force even at this veteran stage although is yet to score against Scottish opposition in four attempts at club level.
This is the background to Scotland’s belated return to Lisbon, where the connotations are somewhat more upbeat in respect of the Scottish club game. Celtic fans still flock to visit the Estadio Nacional, scene of Jock Stein's European Cup triumph against Inter Milan in 1967.
The city has giveth and it has taketh away. Clarke craves some succour. Like religious pilgrims at the city gates, Scotland arrive slightly bowed and bent and in search of salvation.
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