9. November 2020

• Goalkeeper David Marshall is a key figure in the Scots’ current hit streak

• The Scots look to end a 22-year-long drought with a breakthrough in the UEFA Euro playoff final against Serbia on Thursday

• Marshall: We think the country wants our success

When David Marshall made his debut for the Scottish national team, the world was facing presidential election in the United States. George W. Bush re-elected and Donald Trump celebrates success with the first season of his TV show learner, It marks the continuation of the Scottish goalkeeper.

Marshall made his debut for the Scottish national team in August 2004 under German coach Bertie Vogts. Otto Rehgel became European champion with Greece and Jose Mourinho won the UEFA Champions League with FC Porto. NS Invincibles From Arsene Wenger to FC Arsenal lived up to his name as the unstoppable. It all seems like a long time ago. Marshall thinks so.

“It gets crazy when you think about the time,” said the 35-year-old. fifa.com, “Time passed so quickly. I was very young at the time and was really just the reserve goalkeeper. I think my first five appearances were under five different coaches.”

In fact, Martial was still a teenager in Celtic’s reserve team until he was thrown into the deep end after a red card for the goalkeeper at the time. With Ronaldinho in two UEFA Cup rounds of 16 games against FC Barcelona, ​​Martial kept his box clean, helping Celtic advance to Glasgow’s quarter-finals. In the following season, the goalkeeper in the UEFA Champions League even avoided a penalty for the Brazilian great.

In the entire 148-year history of the Scottish national team, only one player has had a long career, namely Ned Doig, who made his first international for Scotland in 1887 and his last in 1903. Marshall is on his way to break the record set by his historic goalkeeper predecessor in the coming months. But the Scottish goalkeeper is not at all proud of him.

“It’s not like I played most of the games for Scotland during that time,” he said. “I only had a few missions in the first ten years. And I never belonged to a team that was qualified for anything.”

“It’s a little hard to digest because I’ve been part of the team for a long time and a lot of good Scottish players have come and gone during that long time. During that time, I learned that there’s often no chance to qualify for big tournaments. So it’s especially important now that we make it.”

Because Thursday will be one of these rare occasions when the Scots travel to Serbia for the playoff final for UEFA Euro 2020. He is considered an outsider, but after three victories against Israel, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, confidence is rarely high in the Scottish camp, especially as Marshall kept his box clear in all three games.

The highlight of the series was the penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals of the playoffs against Israel, in which the Derby County goalkeeper passed a shot early, thus initiating the decision in favor of the Scots.

“It was a very strange experience,” he admits. “It was only then that I was told that Scotland had never played a penalty shootout before. It was a completely new experience for me as well. The absence of fans made the situation even more bizarre. Want to hold as much as possible to put the opponent under pressure. Luckily, I managed it.”

The strong performance of the Scottish goalkeeper and the defensive line confirms the correctness of the coach’s decisions. Steve Clarke announced that his first call after taking over the coaching office was to persuade Marshall to return to the national team. The Scottish national coach had stayed his course when his three-man central defense was criticized, and he stood behind sometimes badly criticized actors such as Scott McTominay.

“The coach had precise ideas from the beginning and calmly, prudently and purposefully implemented his plan, which is clearly taking shape now,” Marshall said. “He has been sticking to his three-man series for three training camps. It takes a while for things like this to settle down. We have played five or six games with the three-man defense now. The coach is certain that this A good system, especially against Israel.”

“His attention to detail is impressive and people are firmly behind him. But you need a sense of accomplishment so that everyone can recognize it. So it’s great that we’ve had these victories over the past few months without hitting a target.” This proves to all that we are developing in the right direction.”

“I definitely feel at home in this Scottish team. My club has also been doing very well in recent years. Now I can prove myself again in the national team. I enjoy it very much and I want to keep my level as high as possible. To play my part for the special success of the country.”

Successful qualification for UEFA EURO 2020 will certainly make this wish come true. After all, it was more than 22 years ago that Scotland took part in a major tournament and memories of the 1998 FIFA World Cup France™ are fading even more strongly.

“I was a kid then, but I still remember how we sat in front of the TV for the first game against Brazil and the players came out in their kits before the game,” Marshall said. “I still remember UEFA Euro 96. Those are probably the earliest memories of the Scottish national team. At the time, it was almost normal for the team to participate in major tournaments.”

“You can literally feel the country want us to recreate it. It’s really a shame that there are no fans in the stadiums at the moment, because the atmosphere would be guaranteed to be incredible. But videos from all over social media and You can get an idea of ​​what the situation is like and how much it means to people.”

“In any case, we are absolutely determined to qualify and can only hope that fans will be allowed into the stadium again when the tournament resumes. Among our fans tartan army are just fantastic and something worth being able to look forward to.”