JOHN McGARRY: Scotland have a golden chance to FINALLY end torment of 'glorious failure'

• e-mail

No one is quite certain when the term glorious failure became part of the lexicon of Scottish football.

An educated guess would be that the phrase was first uttered 50 years ago today in the Waldstadion in Frankfurt.

Scotland’s first World Cup campaign in 16 years pitted us with Zaire, Brazil and Yugoslavia.

An opening 2-0 win over the African nation in Dortmund seemed acceptable at the time. Less so when the Yugoslavs put nine past them.

Facing the reigning world champions in the second game, Willie Ormond’s team fashioned the better chances.

Billy Bremner can't believe it as his effort goes wide in the draw against Brazil in 1974

Lou Macari can't hide his dejection after Scotland's damaging 1-1 draw with Iran in 1978

Joe Jordan’s header was saved by keeper Leao, rebounded, struck Billy Bremner’s shin and squirmed inches past the post. Close but no cigar.

Four days later in the same venue, Scotland faced a win-or-bust scenario against Yugoslavia. After Stanislav Karasi netted, Jordan’s late leveller offered hope of avoiding elimination but again it was not to be.

Scotland returned home with their heads held high and with an extraordinary claim to fame; the first team to go out of the World Cup without losing a match. It remains one of the few occasions when we’ve departed the scene with our honour intact.

Four years later, after the debacle in Argentina, the mood as the team’s plane descended in Glasgow Airport was somewhat different. Ally MacLeod’s men felt the wrath of the Tartan Army in South America as they were roundly humiliated in a 3-1 loss to Peru and a 1-1 draw with Iran.

Their charismatic manager’s decision not to pay any heed to the strengths of the opposition did not seem the shrewdest of moves as the Netherlands came into focus for game three in Mendoza.

Needing to win by three clear goals against the finalists from 1974, MacLeod’s side played with the shackles off as they went in search of a miracle.

Going behind to an early Rob Resenbrink penalty, the game appeared to be up only for Kenny Dalglish’s spectacular strike on the cusp of half time to keep hopes flickering.

After the turnaround, Archie Gemmill’s converted spot-kick put Scotland ahead on the night and within two goals of their lofty target.

The next contribution of the Nottingham Forest man became engrained a nation’s psyche.

Taking possession of a loose ball on the edge of the Dutch box, he slalomed past their defenders as if they were mannequins. With his sixth touch, he clipped the ball over the advancing keeper and into the net. The watching Scottish public leapt from their sofas in unison.

The dream lasted all of four minutes. It was ended when Johnny Rep nonchalantly strode forward and dispatched the ball into the top corner of Alan Rough’s net from an impossible distance. Back home again before the postcards, as the saying went in those days.

Immortalised in the film Trainspotting years later, Gemmill’s golden moment is unquestionably iconic. But its context is also inescapable. It was a stunning goal in a futile Scotland victory, a beacon of hope amid the gloom of an adventure in a faraway land that went so badly wrong.

It should never have been allowed to cloud the fact that, in elite sport, there is really no such thing as glorious failure. Only failure.

Across eight World Cups and three European Championships, Scotland have had many similarly joyous moments; from Dave Narey’s ‘toe poke’ against Brazil to Gordon Strachan’s angled strike against West Germany through to Callum McGregor’s curler against Croatia at Euro 2020.

Each one a treasured memory that caused the ground to shake for a few seconds.

Yet, we should have amassed more than these mere consolation prizes down the years. Heaven knows, others have.

In recent times, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales have not just qualified for a major finals, they’ve advanced to the knock-out stages. Switzerland are on the brink of making it to the business end for the third successive Euros. Greece famously went all the way in 2004.

Nothing summed up the loser mentality that’s held Scotland back for generations quite like the scene which played out in Faro in 2015.

Hopes of joining the other home nations at the finals in France the following summer had been extinguished with a draw against Poland a few days previously.

Strachan’s side fulfilled their final fixture by beating Gibraltar 6-0. They deserved a round of applause for finishing a taxing campaign on a high note but that was all.

To be lauded the way they were by the travelling support before, during and after the game was patronising in the extreme and embarrassing. Talk about holding yourself to a low standard.

While the joy at witnessing Steve Clarke’s side reach back-to-back European Championships has been understandable, you only deserve so many pats on the back for getting there.

Callum McGregor grabs Scotland's only goal of their failed Euro 2020 campaign

If the team was due a bit of slack for stumbling when they returned to the big stage at the pan-European competition three years ago, the heightened expectation they’ve felt this summer has been wholly justified.

Unlike last time, when they sneaked in the back door via the play-offs, the team bulldozed their opponents and qualified with three games to spare. They’ve improved markedly.

The famous victory over Spain at Hampden showed what was possible when the team hit its optimum level. It was reasonable to believe that display could be replicated once the tournament started.

After a false start against Germany and a much-improved show against the Swiss, the scenario that awaits in Stuttgart tomorrow is pleasingly simple. Beat Hungary and the national team will go where none in Dark Blue has gone before.

The consequent celebration would rightly make the last days of Rome feel like a vicar’s tea party. Who knows where it all might end?

No matter how gallantly we perform on the night, the truth is anything less than three points will constitute yet another failure over the piece. We’d owe it to ourselves to acknowledge as much.