Euro 2024 has shown us some great fixtures so far this summer with all teams eager to find their footing. Steve Clark’s Scotland had a disastrous start to their campaign as the team were thrashed 5-1 at the hands of hosts Scotland. Heading into the clash against Switzerland, the Scottish head coach was presented with a humorous question that left him smirking in response.
Steve Clark’s press conference before the game saw a journalist ask the manager if Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka was a similar player to Toni Kroos, or if the German is levels ahead of his Swiss counterpart. The question put a smirk on the Scottish manager as he quickly diffused the situation. Clark stated, “Are you trying to get me into trouble? No, listen, two very similar players – similar in how they control the game for their team.”
The manager then added, “We understood that Toni Kroos was a key player for Germany and we didn’t handle him very well. So, we know Granit Xhaka is a key player for Switzerland, and hopefully, we handle him a little better.”
While Clark would have loved to stop the German legend, it was Xhaka who spoiled Scotland’s chances of walking away with the three points as the Bayer Leverkusen star scored the equalizer for his team.
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Steve Clark’s tactics go in vain, but Scotland keeps hanging by a thread
The game against Switzerland was Scotland’s chance to bag three points and keep themselves in the race for the knockouts. While the team did have a positive start to the game, a goal from Granit Xhaka followed by a horror injury to Kieran Tierney will have spoiled the mood in the camp. Scotland now just have a single point from their first two games and will desperately need a win in their last game to make it to the knockouts.
Scotland will face Hungary in their final group game. Their opponents have failed to bag a single win and are already out of the competition. If Scotland wants to make it to the knockouts, they will have to bag a major win while hoping Germany can beat Switzerland with a massive margin to turn the goal difference in their favour.
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