Tonight's International - Scotland 3 Canada 1

Scotland 3 Canada 1

Scotland cruised to victory tonight by 3 goals to 1 in the friendly international with Canada at Easter Road.  Even more surprising was that all three goals were scored by strikers – Scotland strikers.

Due to circumstances beyond my control (not helped by a spot of bother on Easter Road with a bottle thrown at a Canada fan with Hearts’ Kevin McKenna on the back of his jersey), I arrived in Easter Road Stadium following 8 minutes gone – just in time to see Russell Anderson bundle over a Canadian and the Belgian referee pointed to the spot.

Dundee United’s Paul Gallacher had the dubious first touch (in my viewing anyway) of picking the ball out of the net after de Rosario had coolly slotted home.

You could have been forgiven for thinking “here we go again”, however Scotland’s response was shift and decisive.  A neat through-ball found Crawford clean on goal and the Dunfermline striker beat Tottenham Hotspur’s reserve keeper Jan Hirschfeld.  1-1 and only 12 minutes gone, this game was shaping up to be a bit of a spectacle.

Stevie Crawford had the chance to make it 2-1 only a couple of minutes later as he was fed out wide by Alexander.  From a wide angle, Crawford attempted to chip the goalkeeper and the effort landed just wide.

On 21 minutes, Crawford again (who was having a superb start to the match) beat his man on the touchline and played the ball to debutant Paul Devlin.  The Birmingham City midfielder (and alleged Celtic fan – if you actually believe the beggars) floated over the cross.  Steven Thompson nodded on and Maurice Ross slammed home.  Sadly the effort was ruled offside.

Scotland were by now starting to take a grip of the match as Steven Thompson was the next to try his luck, this time from distance but the keeper saved easily to his left.

Thompson won a freekick 25 yards from goal on 25 minutes.  The resultant Alexander shot was bent around the wall and was touched round the post by Hirschfeld.  The corner was met by Steven Thompson (proving a decent foil for Crawford) and his looping header touched over.  Amazingly the referee gave the goal-kick.

Canada should have taken the lead on 32 minutes as Imhof left Ross for dead and cut back to de Rosario.  The San Jose striker completely missed his kick with only Gallacher to beat.

6 minutes before half time, Radzinski showed his class as he beat his man on the touchline and played the ball across for de Rosario having taken Gallacher out the equation.  Somehow de Rosario managed to find Lee Wilkie instead of the empty net and Scotland breathed a sigh of relief.

The first booking of the night came after a rather innocuous “tackle” by Canada’s Paul Fenwick.  The Hibs defender Tangled with Steven Thompson and the Scotland striker went down rather easily, but despite the protests Fenwick was booked.

Right on halftime, Steven Thompson managed to miss an open goal as he failed to hit the target with a free header from 6 yards.

Half time – Scotland 1 Canada 1

One halftime substitution – Callum Davidson on for the effective Maurice Ross.

The second half started much as the first did – with Canada on the attack.  The Scottish defence looked in disarray as Canada drove forward.  However the Scots managed to get the ball clear and the break away led to the Scottish side taking the lead.

Crawford fed the ball wide to Paul Devlin who turned his marker superbly.  His cross led to confusion in the Canadian defence and in truth they should have cleared easily.  However the Scots would not let it go and the ball broke to Steven Thompson, who lashed home into the top corner from 15 yards.

It meant that after seemingly an endless stream of matches without a Scottish striker scoring, both strikers in the newly formed partnership score their first on the same night.

On 62 minutes de Rosario almost grabbed the chance to equalise, but his challenge for the cross was foiled by Paul Gallacher.  Scotland raced up the park and once again Steven Thompson missed from 3 yards with a header.

The second Scottish substitution came on 65 minutes as Scott Severin of Hearts replaced Scot Gemmill.

Canada were coming back into the game and starting to threaten the Scots goal, Imhof strode forward on 73 minutes and cracked a grass-cutting shot towards the corner of the net that Gallacher did well to hold.

Once more Scotland went straight up the park and put the game beyond doubt.  Some neat play found the highly impressive Devlin on the right wing and the Birmingham City winger fired a curling cross to the back post.

From an impossible angle Thompson fired a shot on target that was well saved.  However the ball broke to Stevie Crawford and he arrowed it into the bottom corner for his second and Scotland’s third of the night.

Lee Wilkie left the park to be replaced by homeboy Ian Murray.

Scotland were going for it now with some fine football and Crawford should have had his hat-trick after a Thompson dummy.  At this stage the fans were chanting “Bertie, Bertie, give us a wave”.

Given the wave of criticism Vogts has previously received, Grandmaster Suck quipped that Bertie will be thinking about the song lyric “will they still love me tomorrow…..”.  Somehow with the press and fans in this country, I doubt it.

With 9 minutes of the match remaining, we had the long waited entrance of Motherwell’s James McFadden for Steven Thomson.

Canada created the best non-scoring chance of the second half on 85 minutes as Nsaliwa swung a cross across the bows of Gallacher.  A fine clearance from Pressley averted the danger.

Crawford could and should have grabbed the elusive hat-trick near the end with a flashing header that missed the post by inches.

All in all, a reasonable Scotland performance and the confidence is visibly improving following the recent ridiculous run of results.  A decent win and a decent performance – hopefully the Scots can take this into the next round of Euro Champ qualifiers.

Full time – Scotland 3 Canada 1

Teams

Scotland: Gallacher, Ross, Wilkie, Pressley, Dailly (capt), Anderson, Graham Alexander, Crawford, Thompson, Gemmill, Devlin

Subs: Neil Alexander, Davidson, Severin, McFadden, Murray, Williams, Kevin Kyle

Canada: Hirschfeld, McKenna, Hastings, Stalteri, Pozniak, Nsaliwa, Imhof, Radzinski, De Rosario, Fenwick, de Guzman.

Referee: L Huyghe (Belgium)

Attendance: 16,207