...lift a major International Trophy?

No.

It would be nice just to see us qualify for one again

Already have...

Kirin Cup

Seriously though, no, not a chance. I think i will see them reach the quarters though at some point (i'm only 20 so i've plenty time) If i seen scotland in a quarter final at the WC i'd die happy.

Im just dying to see us at a major finals again to be honest. I was only 8 last time so I never really took it all in. Id love to experience it properly.

No chance. We're just too small to get enough good players at once that are capable of competing regularly and equally with the best in the world.
I think we will manage to get further than we have before but not as champions - or even finalists.

Wouldn't mind being proven wrong, though!

One word for you: Greece.

Granted, double our population, but still, gives hope to the little guy.

Yes, I am saying these words. I believe that if we directed all public investment in the national game then hope could be transformed into reality. I mean who really needs the welfare state?

I never thought i would see Celtic in a euro final... if Scotland ever qualify for euros again you never know.ONLY need get through the group and win 3 knockout games. Nae borra...

i ll be happy enough to see us in a major tournament. Although i do believe we will at least at some point get past the group stages.

Doubt we'll ever qualify for a major tournament again in my lifetime. Unless we get the easiest of easy groups - ie even easier than the current one.

Yes, I think Scotland will qualif for SA 2010. No I done think i will ever see them lift a major trophy in my lifetime.

Population is not the issue. Hollandf have about twice us in Scotland. if we were half as good as them Id be happy...

Restructure of the leagues, SFA, grass roots blah blah blah

Fecks sake. When I seen the title of this thread I thought the question that was going to be asked was...........

“Do You Believe You Will Ever See Scotland...............qualify for a major tournament again?”

Thanks for the laugh!!

I think we will get past the group stages of a WC or EC in my lifetime.

I don't believe we will qualify for SA.

We'll maybe quilify for the finals of the Euros once it's expanded to 24 (or is it 32?) teams, but that's about it.

I reckon the double over France and home tanking of Ukraine will be the high water mark for a good while yet.

To be honest I don't see us ever doing that, however, we have a larger population than Croatia, and nobody would rule them out of winning an International trophy in the near future.

No....I suppose if we built a 1000 extra football pitches, shut every takeway, banned alcohol and forced people to play football regularly, we might qualify and make the group stages some day.

Try more than 3 times our population and you'll be closer to the mark. There's a famous song in The Netherlands called Vijftien Miljion mensen (15 million people)

No we will never get close to lifting a major trophy, we might start qualifying to them again when the 24 teams kicks in for the Euros.

We defo need an expansion to have a real chance of making it to a tourney now. We need a heck of a lot of luck on top of good performances just to make 2nd place in this group ( and a pretty good draw it was in comparison to the last one ) and get through a play off. No danger we would win a trophy though the odd diddy nation does it at the Euros.

Come on, it's Scotland we're talking about.

The changes to the Euro format makes it unlikely we will even reach a Quarter-Final in the future. When it was 16 teams, there was always the chance of finishing as runner-up in the group, and you were in the Quarter-Finals. Now, with the Euros going up to 24, there is a high likelihood of us being there, and a high likelihood of us getting out of the group (finishing 3rd, with 3 draws or 1 win should do it). (Kind of diminishes the success of doing it btw...). But then get knocked-out in the Round of 16.

No. Next caller please.

Do I think I will ever see Scotland lift an international trophy? Well that for me could be any time in the next 50 years or so. So i don't see it as impossible, who knows what could happen in that time? You've got to dream , otherwise what's the point?

I can't even see us qualifying for the one we're trying to at the moment.

Another one - Denmark.
Our population is big enough to compete at the top level, but we're obviously miles away from it at the moment.
I can't really see it happening, but I hope to have a while left yet so who knows?

Toby just beat me to it - Denmark.

Last time I was in Holland for a game was the 0-0 draw in Arnhem a few years back and we stayed in Oosterbek (sp?) at a campsite. We heard voices in the morning, so we went out to investigate. Turns out it's the under 21's training, Alex Smith is the manager at the time, so we went out to have a blether.

He say's to us 'look around you'. We thought it was Vitesse's training ground, it had about 4 immaculate pitches, one with a stand that puts Bayview to shame, astroturf 5 a side pitches, some for hockey, it was superb. Turns out, it was for the local community, if you had a pub team, you could book it.

Smith turns to me and says 'at united, we train up at Camperdown, dodging dog s**t'.

That's the difference, not population, not drinking habits.

England may eventually win something, not because they have better players, it is because they have investigated in the infrastructure.

we need to catch up.

I have a bottle of moet that i got from my mates on my 18th birthday that i vowed wouldnt be open until scotland qualified for knockout phases at a major championship for the first time in the countrys history...

Bearing in mind my 18th fell just before the 98 world cup started , i never thought it will be still sitting there with half an inch of stoor on it to this day!!!

Is that how the tournament will be set-up? With three teams out of four from each group advancing to the next round? This seems a bit daft, and a waste of time having 6x6 matches that will only eliminate 6 teams.

I haven't seen any info on it, so forgive me if I'm missing something obvious. Would 8 groups of three not make sense, with the winners from each making the quarter finals, or the top two making the last 16? I suppose the set-up above would lead to more games, and therefore more money, which is what it is all about

Groups of 3 are grossly unfair. One team has to sit out each round, and the team that sits out the middle round gets a nice rest that the others don't. One team doesn't play on the last match day, so can't influence their destiny. They've only been used once in major finals (Spain 1982: 24 teams play groups of 4, R2 = 12 teams in groups of 3). Disaster, so was ditched.

The competition will be played to the same format as the 1986/1990/1994 World Cups. I.e. 6 groups of 4, everyone plays 3 games. The 6 group winners, 6 runners-up, and best 4 third placed teams go into KO rounds. Remaining 8 are eliminated...

Think that is right. The other alternative is 4 groups of 6 with each team playing 5 group matches. Would make a lot of money as there would be more games but also make reaching the knockout phase more difficult ( assuming it would be last 8 and not last 16 ).

The only way we'll get to lift a mojor trophy is if they leave the cabinet unlocked................ lol

Imo population has naff all to do with it , I mean if a country of 5-6 million cant get 11 good footballers then somethings up , but no one can tell , we could have the next McDadeinho being born right now for all we kin. IMO if we got through our last campaign we would have went very far in the finals. but ive got ages to see them get far in finals.

world cup 2010

final will be Scotland v Spain

Scotland will win 3-2

scotland scorers, James McFadden, Kenny Miller and lewis stevenson.

Spain Scorers, Torres double

can't wait!!!

Cheers mate.

I have a dream and if dreams come true, they will do

Isn't it great how all of these people have crystal balls and can judge the ability of footballers who aren't even born yet.

I agree with the current set up it's very unlikely but with a bit of work there's no reason that we can't have a team in the future capable of doing something at the top level and, yes, maybe even doing a Greece.

Since the dream has now gone for me it's now my dream to see my son lifting the WC for Scotland. Don't take away my dream you horrible horrible people

Now now, don't be so defeatist! The world cup is only 2 years away, get your boots on and put some effort in!

quarter finals and i'll be happy

cat see us ever winning anything though

i'm holding you to that

No.

Beat me too it.

And I don't think we'll win a trophy, although it could happen in my lifetime (I'm expecting at least 50-60 years ), but qualification will happen sometime within the next 3 attempts. 2 if you don't count this campaign.