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Scotland will end a wait of 8,433 days since last celebrating qualification for a major tournament if they win in Belgrade tonight.
The last time the Scots reached a finals was the 1998 World Cup in France — and Craig Brown’s side made it through in the last game of their qualifiers with a 2-0 win against Latvia on October 11, 1997.
Since then, the Tartan Army will have waited 23 years, one month and one day for another qualification party should Steve Clarke’s side triumph this evening. That amounts to 12,143,520 minutes or 202,392 hours.
Scotland have since gone through TEN qualifying campaigns — and varying degrees of misery — since the night they beat the Latvians at Celtic Park. Here is that road to nowhere…
EURO 2000
A draw pitting Scotland with the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Lithuania, Estonia and the Faroe Islands was not unfavourable.
But it started with a goalless draw in Vilnius, with narrow home wins over Estonia and the Faroes preceding a home defeat to the Czechs.
By the time they’d returned from Toftir with just a point and Prague with none, Scotland were playing for second place. Two wins against Bosnia, a draw in Estonia and a home victory against Lithuania secured that much.
The play-off against England was the epitome of glorious failure with a 1-0 win at Wembley just not enough to overturn a 2-0 loss at Hampden.
WORLD CUP 2002
Two goals up to ten-man Belgium after 27 minutes at Hampden in game four, Scotland were well on their way to South Korea and Japan.
But after being pegged back through Daniel Van Buyten’s goal in stoppage time, the campaign suddenly felt ill-fated.
Scotland took care of Latvia and San Marino and drew twice with group winners Croatia. But a defeat in Brussels compounded what had gone before and the play-offs went up in smoke.
It was the end of the Craig Brown era.
EURO 2004
Now with Berti Vogts at the helm, Scotland’s opener in the Faroes was a fiasco as they were forced to come back from two goals down to claim a draw.
The return at Hampden was less problematic, as were two games with Iceland. But although Vogts’ side managed a spirited home draw with Germany, they lost in Dortmund and Kaunas — and needed Darren Fletcher’s first Scotland goal to reach the play-offs.
James McFadden’s goal against the Dutch at Hampden sent them off to Amsterdam believing but a 6-0 hiding was the stuff of nightmares.
WORLD CUP 2006
This one was pretty much over before it started. A goalless draw with Slovenia and a loss to Norway — both at home — arrived before a draw in Moldova, a result which spelled the end for Vogts’ time in charge.
Walter Smith lost his first game, in Italy, but there was an upturn in results with wins over Moldova, Norway, Slovenia and a home draw with the Italians.
But five points shipped to Belarus meant Norway took the play-off spot.
EURO 2008
A tale of two managers and an extraordinary sense of injustice that still lingers. Drawn with Italy and France — the nations who had contested the last World Cup final — Scotland were up against it.
Yet when Gary Caldwell’s goal defeated the French at Hampden, a nation believed.
Even a loss in Ukraine and Smith returning to Rangers at the start of 2007 didn’t derail the campaign.
Alex McLeish masterminded an unforgettable victory in Paris, with James McFadden’s screamer completing the double over the French.
Alas, a loss in Georgia made the final match with Italy at Hampden decisive. The controversial foul against Alan Hutton which led to Christian Panucci breaking hearts in stoppage time is as hard to stomach now as then.
WORLD CUP 2010
With McLeish now at Birmingham City, George Burley was tasked with leading the nation to South Africa but the appointment would prove disastrous.
An opening defeat in Macedonia was compounded by just one point being taken from Norway and none from Holland. Beating Iceland twice and Macedonia at Hampden was academic.
Scotland finished behind both the Dutch and the Norwegians. Burley was shown the door.
EURO 2012
Craig Levein’s arrival prompted a wave of fresh optimism that lasted as long as a goalless draw in Lithuania and a stoppage-time victory over Liechtenstein.
If back-to-back defeats against the Czechs and Spain had hopes hanging by a thread — the former coming in the infamous ‘no strikers’ game — a 2-2 draw with the Czechs at Hampden just about killed them off.
Dreams of a miracle were sustained by single-goal victories over Lithuania and Liechtenstein, but a 3-1 loss in the final match in Alicante confirmed another fruitless campaign.
WORLD CUP 2014
The wisdom in granting Levein another campaign was up for question after home draws with Serbia and Macedonia. Defeats in Wales and Belgium saw the SFA pull the trigger.
Gordon Strachan didn’t witness much of a bounce with a home loss to Wales and a defeat in Serbia.
His side at least showed signs of improvement thereafter, beating Croatia twice, winning in Macedonia and losing only to the Belgians.
EURO 2016
A campaign that was not without its highs ended in crushing disappointment.
Strachan’s men took much from a narrow opening defeat to Germany in Dortmund, would draw in Poland, memorably defeat the Republic of Ireland at Celtic Park and bounce back to take a point in Dublin. But a loss in Georgia was crippling and cranked up the heat for the game with the Germans at Hampden. Scotland were good but still lost, with a draw against the Poles rendering the win in Gibraltar largely irrelevant as they finished fourth.
WORLD CUP 2018
Strachan’s second full campaign was a rollercoaster ride. A trouncing of Malta came before an alarming slump encompassing a home draw with Lithuania and heavy losses away to Slovakia and England. Then came the bounce back. Victory over Slovenia preceded an extraordinary 2-2 draw with England then victories over Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia.
Needing a win in Slovenia to make the play-offs, Scotland led, trailed, then drew level, but could not get the winner which would have pipped the Slovaks to second spot. Strachan was sacked, with McLeish hired for a second spell.
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