ExiledSaint

The one who's brother McLane killed? Bingo!

His face looks like it was sculpted out of a big block of chopped pork. Using a hammer.

yasssssssssssssss!!!!!

What has happened to the law of averages when it comes to Scotland? It's been decades since we had a decent striker! Surely tae f*** we should have had one in all they years since Gordon Durie.

This. For a big guy Kane goes down far too easily, as do Grealish, Sterling, Mount, Saka, etc, etc, etc. I don't get why at least one of them hasn't been booked for simulation. I hope the referee on Sunday clamps down on it early,and lets the game flow.

As someone already pointed out England have not faced a top quality team in the tournament yet, whereas Italy have had to come through two top sides in the last 2 rounds. Italy's defence is tougher than anything England have come up against yet, as is their attack, and Jorginho, Verratti and Barella are going to run rings around Phillips, Mount and Rice. Home advantage will help England a little, but Italy are going to be too good for them, although i'd be a lot more confident if Spinazzola was still available.

Aye right, everyone knows that PlayStations don't sell in Wales, Denmark, Norway or Ireland or anywhere else with similar populations but far better recent records. It's poor governance of the game from grass roots to the top boardroom level, and the whole thing needs a ton of investment and a clear purpose to put right. That said, we have the best crop of players for ages, and there's no reason why we can't set our sights higher.

Similar stories in Perth I'm afraid. Ally McCoist, Billy Dodds, Callum Davidson, Stevie May and even John O'Neil all got capped within 1 year of leaving Saints (except McCoist who had to move to Rangers to get noticed)

What have you named your daughter - David or Steve? Or have you not had that awkward conversation with the missus yet? I suggested Marshall as a middle name but got shot down.

I was listening on radio but missed the extra time and penalty shootout! My daughter was born by c-section at 22:40 so I missed the drama at the end! Still, what a perfect day! MON SCOTLAND!!!!!!!!

Jesus. F'in'. Christ! This needs saying - we are utter shite! We're the opposite of Wales and Northern Ireland. Those teams are much better than the sum of their parts, and Scotland - considering the level that a lot of the players play at - are an absolute shower! No we haven't lost in 5 games and that's a positive, but there's no clue as to a style of football we are trying to play. We look shaky in defence and clueless in attack. I'm usually a positive person but if we get through this we are going to get tanked in the final, whoever we play.

1. Thai green curry with prawn 2. Massaman curry with lamb 3. A good quality chicken korma - it's not always about heat 4. Butter chicken 5. Lamb Passanda

I think the 3 new additions to the squad will all benefit the team hugely. Blade Thomson was schooled in NZ and would have played for them but for a couple of injuries. He's a fast, strong and elusive runner and can offload, something we've lacked in recent years at Number 8. Sam Skinner is a key part of the Exeter pack that dominates pretty much everyone they come up against, and Sam Johnson (when he's fit) runs lines very like Huw Jones, but he's better at passing! Hoping for 4 wins from the Autumn Internationals.

Given what happened recently with the omission of Jason Kerr from the U21's squad (as well as the ridiculous reasoning behind it), I got to thinking about the St Johnstone players that were either ignored by the Scotland manager when they were in contention, or even worse, ended up getting capped within a very short time of leaving Saints. Yes there's maybe a few sides that can claim a similar thing, but as Saints are my team I looked into it. Over the last 30 years or so Billy Dodds, Stevie May, Callum Davidson, Paul Wright, and John O'Neil were all capped within a year of leaving St Johnstone (Scotland B cap in Wright's case). Ally McCoist was a bit further back and was about 3 years, but he was good enough at the time to get in the squad. John Inglis, Dave Mackay, Steven Anderson, Allan Preston, Steven Milne, Allan Moore and Alan Main were all overlooked despite all arguably being viable options at the time. Murray Davidson has a single cap in 2012. It's tinfoil hat stuff I know, but I can't help but feel that if any of the above players had played for Aberdeen or Hearts for example then they would have been capped.

The last few weeks we've been spectators for yet another World Cup we failed to qualify for. Some of the "smaller" nations have played well and had some impressive results. Belgium's Golden Generation have only just missed out on the Final, and Iceland gave a good account of themselves. I used those 2 as examples as they have shown amazing progress due to an overhaul of youth development, patience and quality coaching. So my question is; will we ever be dining at the big table again, and will the changes we've implemented in the youth setup ever bear fruit?