Int’l Roundup: Where Our Bhoys Been

By: JT | October 18th, 2007

Unfortunately, the positive energy that’s been surrounding Scottish football has waned a wee bit after yesterday’s 2-0 loss away to Georgia. The Scots were missing quite a few of their key players, including three Celtic stars in Scott Brown, Gary Caldwell, and Paul Hartley. I think its probably fair to say that Brown’s loss was felt the most, though the versatility that both Hartley and Caldwell provide can not be underestimated, especially when a squad is hurting as much as the Scots were coming into the Georgia clash.

In the match over the weekend, Scotland handled Ukraine 3-1 at Hampden with former Celt Kenny Miller netting the first in only the fourth minute. Brown trudged off injured with fifteen minutes left gripping his hammy. Celtic captain Stephen McManus, who played the entirety of both matches, finished this one with a neat bandage wrapped around his grape, the result of an earlier clash with one of the Ukrainians. Its all to play for when Italy’s diving dandies make the trip to Hampden on November 17.

Aiden McGeady and his mates on the Republic of Ireland squad grabbed a creditable nil-nil against Germany at Croke Park, and a painful home draw with Cyprus that required a late and controversial Steve Finnan goal to spare a huge humiliation. McGeady came on late in both matches, and a guy who is not playing for his club or a midfielder started ahead of him. Aiden’s got to be questioning his seat at the Republic’s table right about now. The draw clinched qualification for the Germans, and the Czechs are in as well. It looks like Steve Staunton’s time as Ireland boss is coming to close, and that can only be a good thing for the Celtic winger.

Poland came another step closer to qualifying for the party next summer as they trounced Kazakhstan 3-1 in Warsaw. Keeper Artur Boruc played his customary 90 minutes in net, and striker Maceij Zurawski even got in a full half of play.

Four nations still have a shot at making the Euros from Group A, but the Poles have the toughest path. Sitting on 24 points, they are home to Belgium and then have a tricky away fixture at Serbia to round out the qualification process. A win against Belgium gets them in, but they’ll need to win both to guarantee themselves top spot. Portugal, on 23 points, have two home matches against Finland and Armenia. Finland and Serbia are four points off the Poles’ pace, and require victories in both their final matches just to have a shot. The Finns host Azerbaijan and are away at Portugal, while the Serbs host Kazakhstan and Poland. This one’s gonna be tight.

An injured Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink did not take part in Holland’s away loss to Romania or their home win over Slovenia which inched them closer to qualification. On a slightly different note, I met some Slovenian girls when I was in San Sebastian this spring. They were gorgeous and very, very kind once they downed some vino and witnessed the type of dancing display that only I can bring to a club.

Japan coach Ivica Osim mercifully left Shunsuke Nakamura off his squad for their midweek friendly at home with Egypt, which the Japanese won easily 4-1.

Chris Killen and his Kiwi brethren beat Fiji 2-0 in Oceania’s World Cup qualifiers. New Zealand are the early leaders in this second stage, but they have an ominous home-and-home with Vanuatu coming up in November which looks like a real minefield to me.

In the next few days we’ll find out exactly what toll the internationals took on the Celtic squad. WGS has already stated that he’ll be giving those that are close to fitness every opportunity to prove that they’ll be ready for Rangers on Saturday. Brown and Caldwell appear to be the favorites to play among the injured. Rangers are likely to be in much the same situation, so like WGS says, you shouldn’t expect a top-notch encounter at Ibrox this weekend.