Scotland V Liechtenstein

Tuesday, 7th September – 20:00 GMT
LIVE on Sky Sports 3
EURO 2012 Qualifier: Group I

Scotland

After their failure to collect all three points against Lithuania four days ago, Scotland find themselves in a must win situation against Group I minnows Liechtenstein in the knowledge that excruciating fixtures with Czech Republic and Spain await them. Scotland have never faced the country currently ranked a less than flattering 141 in the world and are expected to record a win at Hampden Park on Tuesday night with something to spare, with anything less than a convincing win bound to be met with a hot backlash from the Scottish media.

Not since the World Cup finals at France in 1998 have Scotland managed to successfully qualify for a major tournament, leaving fans with dry mouths after a twelve year wait for some high profile action. Their 0-0 draw in Lithuania last week has made qualifying for EURO 2012 in Poland-Ukraine even more difficult than it originally was, with Spain expected to cantor towards the only available automatic entry leaving Scotland to fight it out with the Czech Republic for second place and a route into the play-off’s, possibly. Their rivals for second spot who will have been over the moon with Scotland’s draw in Kaunas on Friday. It was two huge points dropped by the Scots, that despite coach Craig Levein boldly claiming the point was nonetheless satisfactory, as it means Scotland have already allowed themselves to slip up and have thus left the door open for the Czech’s to take full advantage of their shortcomings.

For Scotland fans, a draw or a loss would be unthinkable as they look at the bigger qualification picture, but for punters it should be impossible. Liechtenstein are one of the most dire nations competing in EURO qualifying and it would take a seriously below par display from the hosts for them not to help themselves to all the spoils in the first ever contest between the two nations. But the pressure is now well and truly on for Scotland’s players, as well as new manager Craig Levein, and the task has been made just that little bit more difficult with news of injury blows to key personnel. Forward Chris Iwelumo is definitely out of the Liechtenstein game, as is Steven Fletcher by the sound of things, while defender Kirk Broadfoot is also an injury casulty. Steven Fletcher and Steven Whittaker will face a late fitness tests and the speculation in camp isn’t positive, but on the plus side defensive duo Kevin McNaughton and Lee Wallace are set to return to the squad following their absence from the Lithuania draw.

Liechtenstein

You’ll be hard pressed to find a European nation of poorer quality than Liechtenstein, with perhaps only San Marino standing in the way of that unwanted honour, however, even lowly San Marino, a country ranked 202 in the world, have beaten Liechtenstein during the last decade, San Marino’s solitary success in a competitive international, which just goes to show the task ahead for Hans-Peter Zaugg’s players.

Liechtenstein began their EURO 2012 qualifying campaign with a daunting fixture against Group I favourites and World and European champs Spain. Not even the role of hosts saved Liechtenstein from an opening defeat, with Spain whitewashing a team consisting of mainly home-grown talent, if you can really call them that, as the world’s best ran out 4-0 winners in Vaduz. Liechtenstein created next to nothing throughout the whole of their game with Spain, rarely even seeing the ball let alone their opponent’s goalmouth.

Hans-Peter Zaugg’s team comprises mainly of home-grown players, with a few plying their trade in the Swiss league’s, and to claim the resources available to the Swiss born manager are limited would be putting it lightly. However, his players did earn a hard-fought draw in Reykjavik, Iceland, who are arguably a better side than Scotland as many teams are nowadays, so perhaps they aren’t the forlorn hope we initially hyped them up to be.

Match Prediction: Scotland to WIN – 1.10 BlueSquare

Oh how we would love an egg in the face of Scottish faces but that can’t really happen, can it? To Scotland’s credit, Craig Levein’s men were the better of the two sides in Kaunas last week against Lithuania and had it not been for some disappointing refereeing and some over-the-top challenges from the hosts, Scotland probably would have won that contest. But they didn’t, an all too familiar characteristic with Scotland these days not winning, while even we were disturb by the amount of moaning from the Scottish players following their ‘harsh treatment’ from the Lithuanians, this coming from a nation where its people claim to have courage and gusto in abundance but yet go weak at the knees at the sight of a few butch players on a green field.

If anything, Scotland need to man up, perhaps even go down the road of rustling a few feathers, much like Lithuania did on Friday. The Scots won’t stand a chance of playing any team out of the game seeing as technically gifted individuals are a premium in the Scottish game right now, although even Levein’s mildly talented performers should have enough of something, whatever it may be, to see off Liechtenstein at Hampden Park.

Soccer-Betting Value Tip: Scotland to WIN 3-0 – 6.50 Totesport

Match Odds:

Scotland – 1.10 BlueSquare
Draw – 10.00 PaddyPower
Liechtenstein – 34.00 SkyBet