It was an obvious one, really. After celebrating Scotland making it to Euro 2024 by counting down the top 50 players to have played for the international side in the previous 50 years, how should The Scotsman mark their return to a World Cup after so long?
Well, goals win matches – and they certainly did on the night Scotland qualified against Denmark. Needing a win to ensure their automatic qualification, Scotland came up with three of the best goals they have ever scored in the 4-2 win.
At the time of writing, Scotland have scored 1443 goals in 848 games. The original plan was to come up with a top 25 – just under three per cent of the total scored. The crème de la crème. It was the best homework assignment ever.
To keep things slightly more modern and increase the chance of finding footage on YouTube, we set a slightly arbitrary time limit of 1973 - the year before Scotland returned to a World Cup for the first time since 1958.
It also happens to be this writer’s lifetime. This meant Joe Jordan’s glorious header v Czechoslovakia to seal qualification could be considered. Did it make it? Mibbes eyes, mibbes naw.
To aid credibility, former Scotland international Pat Nevin was recruited to sift through goal after goal. It also helps when discussing moments of genius such as Mo Johnston’s acrobatic overhead kick against Cyprus in 1989 if someone contributing to the conversation can say, ‘Oh yes, I crossed the ball in for that one’.
It’s also advantageous if this self-same expert is one of the candidates in the mix for scoring one of Scotland’s greatest goals.
Indeed, a couple of Pat’s five goals for Scotland made the long list, including the well-struck – he calls it a top-poke, yes another one of those – effort from the edge of the box into the top corner in a pre-Euro ’92 friendly against the USA. It was further distinguished by later featuring in the Mike Myers film So I Married An Axe Murderer.
Not even this was enough to ensure that it made the cut though I suspect it was self-deprecation on Pat’s part as much as anything that saw the goal discarded when it came to the final 25. And that’s what we are left with: a final 25 since 1973.
It isn’t the definitive list and it’s not even the list we might come up with today were we to sit down together again.
As per his musical tastes, Pat is apt to come up with left-field choices. Definitely one of them comes under that description. See if you can work it out. And even one of the top 5 is not necessarily what you would expect it to be. At least it’s not the one you would necessarily pick as being the goalscorer-in-question’s best.
But isn’t that all part of the fun.
9. No 17 - Mo Johnston v Cyprus 26/4/89
Another overhead kick – who doesn’t like an overhead kick? Pat Nevin sends in a deep cross from the right, Richard Gough heads back into the danger area and the ball is inadvertently flicked up by a defender attempting to clear. Johnston flips himself up on the edge of the six-yard box and before anyone knows it, the ball’s in the net, for the opener in a 2-1 World Cup qualifying win. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602
10. No 16 - Lee McCulloch v Ukraine 13/10/2007
A well-worked free kick routine sees Barry Ferguson find McCulloch on the far fringe of the box having wrong-footed, it seems, the entire Ukraine defence, who flock towards the near post like firemen heading for the wrong fire. He looked up and bent an unstoppable shot into the far corner with his right foot for 2-0 in an eventual 3-1 victory over Ukraine as Scotland looked unstoppable on the way to Euro 2008. It didn’t work out that way but Hampden in the sunshine rarely felt as good as then. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602
11. No 15 - Charlie Nicholas v Switzerland 30/3/83
Scotland storm back from 2-0 down in a European Championship qualifier, the equaliser coming from the then golden boy of the Scottish game. Nicholas exudes confidence and elegance as he flicks the ball up with his right foot before lobbing the Swiss keeper with his left. "A touch of arrogance," says Archie Macpherson in commentary, admiringly. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602
12. No 14 - Richard Gough v England 20/5/85
Headers v England are a glorious subset of great Scotland goals and include Gordon McQueen’s towering contribution to the category at Wembley in 1977. It was a tough choice but we have gone for Gough’s winner in this Rous Cup meeting in 1985 when he rose to meet Jim Bett’s cross from the left to loop a header over Peter Shilton’s head on a wet but glorious afternoon at Hampden. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602