andychar

Friendly Anguilla (h) Another belter of a tie. Another game I'm going to be wanting 10! Another game where the lineup is dictated by who can actually play the full 90. Hardwick plays because I feel like I'm making up for lost time. Chris Wilkie very much taking advantage of weak teams. Henderson gets his first goal for his Country. Proud moment. Allan Campbell gets his first goal for his Country. Another proud moment. Porteous misses a penalty just before the break. Oh dear. Its very much going according to script. Although, not going to lie. Would have wanted more goals! Cha Adams with the goal. Munro won't get on this game so its a chance to increase that advantage. It now stands back at 5. Wilkie gets his second. Campbell adds his second and some gloss to the scoreline. Wilkie bags his 2nd hattrick in as many games. Once again it will do. Next stop World Cup 2030.

Friendly Eritrea (h) These are the games this save was created for! Last time I asked for 10. This time, I demand it! We lose Deas to injury which means Sam Campbell has a chance to make his debut for his Country. Campbell and Henderson do make their debuts. The lineup was heavily dictated by who has 45 minute instructions with only Turnbull restricted in the starting line up. Lovely play and Chris Wilkie gets his first goal for Scotland. And then his 2nd. McGurk converts a corner for his 2nd goal in a Scotland shirt. Turnbull with a lovely free kick. Feels like its been a while since he did that. Turnbull with a lovely free kick. Its been about 11 minutes since he did that. Its gone pretty much how you would expect it to. We are on course for 10! Wilkie bags his hattrick. Good performance. Munro on the wing today. Doesn't stop him getting goals. He's 4 behind now. Well it wasn't 10 but hey ho.

Felt like a long gap between games and I suppose compared to when its only a month....it was! I have been begging a few high profile English players with Scottish connections to join us. They have all said no. Harvey Barnes, Elliot Anderson, Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento all not bothered yet. Be hard to be in a better place than England so might never be able to convince. So until we can, we are stuck with the usual. I mentioned before how it was a very easy International Window for us... I wasn't exaggerating! For the first time this save... Apparently I have a rift with Rangers and Brighton. First I'm hearing of this! A new face. Not going to play but welcome. McGurk back in the side after missing a few squads. Other than that, no surprises. Am I clinging onto Ryan Christie? Does he deserve a place? 33 year old Liam Henderson could make his first apperance for his Country. All depends on how kind I'm feeling. With some up and coming Strikers Che Adams is clinging on for dear life at the moment. Don't be surprised not to see his name anymore. I have a feeling the World Cup could be the last time we see a number of players. So lets enjoy them while we can.

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Round Up Thought it would be a good idea to show you how the Qualifying went around the World. No real surprises in South America. Peru finishing 7th means they qualify for a Playoff. DR Congo missed out only on GD and couldn't manage to be one of the 3 best runner ups. Angola missed out by 1 goal "but wait!" I hear you scream "Weren't you drawn against Angola?!" The 4th best runner up qualifies for a playoff. Zambia maybe a surprise but they romped home. Ivory Coast, shadows of their former self. With the increase of teams more Asian Countries get through compared to the 32 team World Cup. No real surprise here although Group A was a close run thing. Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia played in a 2 legged match with the winner going through to the next round of Play Offs. Different to how it used to be. No more Hex Group. Which makes Suriname's progression less surprising but still an amazing achievement. Hondruas qualify for a playoff. New Zealand beat Tahiti in the Final 3-1 on Agg which results in Tahiti going to the playoff. So 5 teams in a playoff. I don't know if this is the same all the time but... The best 3rd place team from CONCACAF play the Runner Up from OFC in a Semi Final Tahiti no match for Honduras. Then the winner of that game played the 7th team from CONNEBOL and then AFC playoff winner played the CAF 4th best runner up. Peru and Angola reaching through the back door. Is it me or does this all seem needlessly complicated!?

This remains and issue. Only Country I've tried that I've had problems with. We are currently 15th in the World but it does suggest success in the future and they might make the Journey. 1 African and 2 Asian to match the teams we have in our Group. We currently have 7 fixtures arranged for 2030 and all of them are new Countries to tick off. We are still on course.

World Cup 2030 Draw I think this is great new surely? 1st Seeds! I mean we have already beat Albania. The other 2 are brand new (well not Canada I suppose). Come on people, get with the programme. Ah yes the Previous 100 World Cups. Also Pep...I miss Roy Keane. You know I've always liked that Pep. Very happy with that. Iran are one of the best teams in Asia so should be a good challenge but one we should be winning. Angola from Africa, another great draw. Some interesting Countries have qualified. Suriname being a huge surprise, very hard draw for them. Zambia, maybe a mistake facing them in a friendly. Group N is tasty, anybody can get through there. Will be some "easy" games in the Knockouts if we can get there. Lets put it this way...we are expected too.

"What am I doing here playing this friendly at my age." World Cup 2030 Qualifying Round Up Well. I couldn't have been wrong about these if I tried! Hungary had a brilliant campaign to book their place in the World Cup but just look at Austria. Amazing stuff. The decline of Germany is real. 16 points off the pace. Shocking. Neither Wales nor Czechia the lucky runners up. Hey I got one right! Holland destorying the competition and breezing into the next round. Slovakia missing out. Nailed my Group D prediction as well. 2-2 at the moment. Not quite correct in Group E with Denmark going unbeaten and qualifying. Portugal through as runner up but I can tell you they were the worst out the 5 that made it through (less this year because Spain are the Hosts and get there automatically). Group F I was correct with England breezing through but I didn't see a best runner up here. Albania proving their Last 16 performance in the Euro's was no accident as they qualify for their first ever World Cup. Congrats to them. They pushed France all the way and Switzerland a major Nation not there. I nailed Group H prediction. Everybody took points off everybody leaving nobody as the runner up. Only the 1 defeat for us but it was closer than I would have liked. Bulgaria proving a surprise package. Turkey proving their Semi Final run was maybe a fluke. It shows that we REALLY should have beat them. I was right with my Group J prediction as well. It was close with Wales, Czechia and Poland all missing out by 1 point. Portugal very lucky indeed!

Dylan Munro is now 5 behind Che Adams and has scored 53 goals in 46 Scotland Apperances. Unreal record.

Friendly Montserrat (h) As far as games go, this should be an easy one to finish the year and another Country ticked off the list. Other than O'Hare playing instead of Patterson and Porteous in for Tierney this is a strong side. I want 10. Munro with a good low shot into the corner gets us underway. McGregor bags a goal while probably thinking "At my age what I am doing here playing this friendly?" Gilmour makes no mistake from the spot. Munro gets his 2nd of the game. Not quite on course for 10 but lets have a big 2nd. Munro completes his hat trick. On the tail of Adams now. Che Adams doesn't want to lose that goalscoring record. But Munro wants it. Munro bagged his 5th at the death to add gloss to the score. Not 10 but good enough for me. Bit of a break now before next Window where we play 2 very easy Friendlies. Might be the World Cup draw between them.

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Malta (h) If we don't win this and don't top our group because of it then I think this save just needs to end. Chris Wilkie would have started but he's picked up a little injury ruling him out the game. As previously mentioned the starting line up will consist of the lowest amount of players on a suspension as possible. It should be a spanking. Robbie Deas, Ryan Christie and Korbyn Hardwick are the only 3 starting on a booking. If they can avoid we should be golden. 1 point is enough to secure our place in Spain 2030. We had to remain patient but its Ryan Christie who fires us into the lead. So far so good on the booking front. The stats suggest we should be more than 1 goal to the good. Lets put this to bed. 50 minutes on the clock and Malta are down to 10. Unbelievable. 68th minute and Che Adams has a goal ruled out. I can't believe it but I don't think we are going to win this. Its taken a moment of magic by David Turnbull to get us back into the lead. 75th minute and Che Adams has another goal ruled out. It should be more comfy than this. O'Hare finally puts the game to bed. Job done but my God! We can now look forward to the draw. Be interesting to see which Pot we find ourselves in.

Really? Now you questioning Andrew Robertson?! God I hope Liam Kelly doesn't retire from International Football after the World Cup. No Hickey again but that's down to injury rather than being left out. Nothing new this time. I believe that yellows move to the next Competitive game which would be the first game of the World Cup. This will heavily influence my lineup against Malta. Wilkie beat out Nairn. Decided to go for fresh blood.

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Northern Ireland (a) This has turned into a tense International break. A defeat here and suddenly we aren't in control of our own destiny anymore. Worrying times ahead potentially. If we win then it will be a home game against Malta to seal qualification. Bulgaria don't play this time so we can't seal qualification today. We are favourites but I wouldn't exactly call it solid. We are forced into 2 changes. Welsh and Tierney both suspended. Johnston comes in for his debut and Porteous joins him. Other than that same 11. We weren't horrible against Bulgaria and I'm confident another performance like that and we will be fine. Great work by Christie down the wing and he finds Hardwick in the box who fires home. A few nerves have been relieved for now. We have been in complete control but lets face it...we have been here before. Showing 1-0 still because Callum McGregor misses a glourious chance to put this game to bed from the spot. Nerves jangling. It wasn't pretty at times but we deserved the win and its a big one. Pretty much takes us there unless Malta pull off an upset to end all upsets. We play in the next set of games so we can wrap it up before Bulgaria play their game in hand.

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Bulgaria (a) Suddenly this game is quite big. If we lose then we will be looking over our shoulder for the end of qualifying. We go into the game as slight underdogs as well. This will be an interesting game. We assumed Turkey would be our rivals. We were wrong. Welsh gets the start at CB. Lowry ahead of a fatigued Turnbull but no other surprises really. Bottom line is, if we win we are there. Hardwick to Lowry. Great start. I'm not going to lie, our goal was against the run of play. The deserve the goal. Penalty was descirbed as harsh but it doesn't matter. Not good! Not a kind team talk coming up. Hardwick to Munro. Repeat performance. We have been dominant. Just what the hell is Robertson doing!? Instead of letting the ball go out for a corner he heads the ball back into the box straight to a Bulgarian. Sorry SI but no footballer would ever do this, never mind one of the best defenders in the World. We didn't deserve to lose and the fact its a crappy piece of ridiculous animation makes it 10x worse.

Two players over the age of 30 have the chance to make their debut. One of them being 33. I know it makes no sense. But I'm just trying some things out. I'm back in the same position I was before Robertson, Tierney and Patterson. No room for Hickey. No words needed. At the moment George Johnston is better than most CB's. This is an aging Defence already with youngest being 27. Worrying times. Not pictured here but certainly in the squad is Hardwick. Again Liam Henderson is looking good. I hate to say it but...I should have loaded other leagues a lot sooner! Munro clearly the best striker now. He will overtake Adams very soon.

We missed a game but this is what the Group looks like. Nice 5 point lead over our nearest challenges but we play them away yet so need to keep it professional.

Friendly Bangladesh (h) This should be a thrashing and a nice new Country ticked off the list. O'Hare finally gets his first cap. As does Ramsay who was only called up because Tierney's injury. Nairn has a chance to bump his stats up once again. Alex Lowry from the spot. Lowry with his second. A lovely solo goal. Hardwick with the goal. So many wasted years. We are where we need to be at HT. So many wasted years. Lowry completes his hattrick. Hickey with a great long ranged effort. A penalty. No clean sheet. Ryan Christie with a lovely goal. A lovely team goal. 7 goals and Nairn gets none in 90 minutes. Lovely stuff.

I had been doing (what I think) was a good job of keeping up with players. But because he is only a AML I never found him. Still a bonehead move.

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Turkey (h) We play Turkey in our only competitive fixture this time around. A win and its pretty much World Cup in the bag. Bad news here. We are favourites. We should win. Hardly a surprise Hardwick straight into the side. So many wasted years not calling him up. I feel so stupid! Other than that there's no surprises really. Munro wastes no time firing us into the lead. Christie. The evergreen Christie. We are in control. If it wasn't revenge last time it is this time. Munro again. McGregor is still such a big cog in this team and he fires home a 4th. I mean on paper its been even but we have been at our clinical best. Brilliant 45 minutes of football. We've let some leads slip in the past. Can you imagine? Munro completes his hattrick. Brilliant game. I couldn't get the screenshot before the full time whistle. Brilliant icing on the cake. Welsh scores a rare goal. The stats tell a different story than the full time result and not a care is had.

I found somebody who had seemingly fell through the cracks! Hardwick! Not a clue how he managed to get through the cracks. Not a single call up. McTominay hasn't really featured much. Its time to move on from him I think. Kelly still uncontested. I have called O'Hare up a lot and he's still awaiting his first cap. We play Bangladesh in this break. Will be finally get his dream debut? Its literally just cottoned on why he slipped through the cracks. He's only a AML and I have never searched by them. I wonder how many more I've missed. From the looks he would have been capped at like 16! Usual threesome here. Hardwick. Man.

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Northern Ireland (h) The last of the Group we have yet to beat. It will be a good year if we can tick these 4 off and 2 Friendlies later on in the year. It will keep us on course certainly with World Cup year next year and a chance to tick off more. Expect a boat load of changes here. We are favourites and should be winning. Patterson, Tierney, McGregor, Christie, Munro all come in to start. Big calls. Buchan starts ahead of Adams. I dream of a time Munro plays on the wing with Wilkie or Nairn up front. But it doesn't make sense to do that just yet when Christie is still firing on all cyclinders. Deas impressed me against Malta, he keeps his place. Ball falls kindly to Munro who fires it home. Great start. Well the ref hsa certainly been busy. Is this game going to finish 11v10? Would like a 2nd just to ease the nerves. Ryan Christie is the gift that keeps on giving. Comfort. Just enough time for Lowry to put some icing on the cake. An easy game made easier with the red card. Still, a good performance. We have played 1 more than everybody but that gap is huge. A few more wins and its in the bag.

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Malta (a) On paper this should be a thrashing. Football isn't played on paper but still...I expect a thrashing. Not going to lie I expected to be better odds than this. Probably the most bizarre lineup I've gone with for a while. 2 debutants. Nairn up front. Deas in the heart of the defence and John McGinn gets a start. Absolute wild. Well this wasn't part of the script. I can't even say we have been dominating because we haven't. Just a poor performance so far. Disjointed with too many changes purhaps? Recused by a penalty. Gilmour always cool and calm from the spot. Munro comes on for the disappointing Nairn and bags a goal. Finally a bit of comfort. Don't think we deserve it but I'll take it. Another sub Turnbull. We are being flattered now. Munro gives me a reason never to drop him again. He got booked in the first minute of his debut and then with seconds to go he bags a goal! Leishman with a dream debut in the end. Dominant second half and a nice win, albeit slightly more nervy than it could have been!

Bit of a gap between International Fixtures. World Cup Qualifying year drags on more than any of them it seems. Stop questioning my methods! Bad injury for Robertson means he misses out. Right, some fresh meat... Long technically not fresh meat but hey ho. 3 Scottish keepers. 1 plays in England, 1 in Wales the other USA. Go figure. For the first time this save (rather stupidly its taken me this long) I looked at the NxGen Top 50 and look who appeared on there. 20 year old Bobby Leishman. I mean its a shame he isn't a CB! Worth a look no? No fresh meat here but at the moment its not needed. Apart from maybe the 3 34 and over there. Gulp. Chris Wilkie another in the Top 50 and Its not fair I have all this youth in one position when I only play one up front! I have high hopes for this lad.

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Bulgaria (h) Its 1st v 2nd as the two teams who won their openers meet. We are favourites. Odds on as well. Patterson comes in for Hickey. Gilmour replaces McGregor and Lowry replaces Turnbull. Not exactly gone to plan so far. A bit of a drab first half. Not quite panic stations just yet. Plenty of time. It looked like we were going to need a moment of magic and Hunter has given it us. Stunning strike to give us the lead. Munro off Nairn on and he smashes home our 2nd. Comfort. I'm starting to think Patterson doesn't like playing for Scotland the amount of suspensions he has. Job done in Glasgow. Leaves us sitting pretty at the top.

It wasn't a goal but its something I have been eyeing. Very happy. We are officially the best we have ever been! Now can we break into the Top 10? More importantly, can we now arrange a friendly with Mozambique!

World Cup 2030 Qualifying Turkey (a) I am that desperate for revenge here its scary. But we need to remember a negative result here doesn't really mean much in the long run. Not surprised by this based on the last game and the fact they are at home. Patterson suspended (when is he ever not!). So Hickey starts. Other than that no shocks. Hunter beats out Gilmour for a spot. Kelly helpless as a deflection takes it away from him. Bad start. We weren't behind for long. Munro doing what he does best. Evading defenders and slotting home. Turnbull with a powerful finish. First time he's scored in a while. Good time to do it. Good comeback now we need to kick on and finish the job. Similar to the goal Munro scored but with a lovely chip at the end. A counter attack goal finished off by Munro gives us the lead with 10 to play. Big goal this early in qualifying. Munro puts the game to bed with a chip of his own. Hat trick complete. Revenge complete. Great performance and a job well done. Tick.