Gordon Strachan: there are no “must win” games yet

It will forever be remembered as the campaign that started badly, then fell away.

Having manoeuvred for home ties against Serbia and Macedonia to get their bid to reach the 2014 World Cup off to a flying start, Scotland succeeded in taking just two points.

When a shattering loss in Wales followed weeks later, the dreams of contributing to the carnival atmosphere of Rio were as good as over.

Craig Levein, who had led the country for 18 months, was kept on for the Belgium match four days later but his departure much like defeat in the King Baudouin Stadium was a formality.

Two years on, the country finds itself about to embark on the European Championship qualifying campaign in earnest.

With the “nothing-to-lose” trip to face the newly-crowned world champions Germany negotiated, Scotland go into the double header against Georgia and Poland in need of points, not plaudits.

As encouraging as the performance in running Joachim Loew’s men close in a 2-1 defeat in Dortmund was, analysis of the first round of fixtures made for grim reading.

The Tbilisi clash between Georgia and the Republic of Ireland was heading for what would have been a helpful 1-1 draw when, in injury time, Aiden McGeady conjured up a magical winner.

That the scorer was born in Paisley and opted to exercise the grandfather rule merely served to rub salt in the wounds.

Meanwhile, in the Algarve, Robert Lewandowski, a man raised in Warsaw not Wishaw, gave a masterclass in how to play against minnows, scoring four times as Poland routed Gibraltar 7-0.

It will be another year before Scotland have to fulfil that fixture, the last of their campaign, but even now it can be safely assumed they will be hard pressed to beat that score.

If that is a concern for the future, Gordon Strachan, Levein’s successor, has more pressing concerns.

Though Georgia, under the charge of former Dundee and Newcastle star Temuri Ketsbaia, lost in Germany, they were comparatively impressive.

And that suggests that those who have narrowed the chase for second and third in the group to the trio of Scotland, Poland and the Republic of Ireland have been premature in their assessment.

Draw, or worse, lose at Ibrox on Saturday in the first home match and, even this early, the new campaign will be starting to have uncomfortable similarities with the failed road to Rio.

With the Republic of Ireland up against Gibraltar the same night, the fear is that the country could find itself cut adrift almost before it had started.

And that would undermine the genuine sense of optimism which has been engendered under Strachan’s charge.

Winners in Croatia, Norway and Macedonia, Scotland look a stronger, more positive, more resilient unit than they ever were under Craig Levein.

The performance in Germany, topped by a terrific goal from Ikechi Anya, rightly received praise throughout Europe and beyond.

Radio pundit Stan Collymore even went as far as to remark that any England supporters watching on must wonder why their country were incapable of playing as well against the top nations.

Yet just as his predecessor argued things could easily have been very different, so Strachan acknowledges things can always go wrong.

“We know that there is the possibility we could get cut adrift. You have to deal with that,” he said.

“You have to deal with the occasion and you have to deal with the potential consequences.

“Things can change very quickly. If you think about it, at one point we were getting a draw in Germany and hoping to get a win.

“At the same time we were looking at the Republic drawing, which is always good because it takes a point out of the equation.

“Then we concede one in our game and the Republic score one in the last minute of their game. That is what happens sometimes so we are where we are.”

This, thankfully, is still a way away from Last Chance Saloon, a hostelry all too familiar to a support craving their first appearance at a major Finals since 1998.

“There are never any must-win games unless you need those three points to qualify,” said Strachan.

“You never know when those are coming so all we can do prepare in the right fashion. Because in the end sometimes the football gods don’t look upon you favourably and sometimes they do.”

Come Saturday a nation must hope it is the latter.