Liverpool star Andy Robertson led Scotland out on the pitch against Ukraine last night as they aimed to make the finals of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this year. The last time they qualified for the FIFA WC was all the way back in 1998.
Since then, they have failed to qualify for the finals of the tournament. And that pattern continued when they lost 3-1 to Ukraine in the semi-final of the FIFA WC Qualifiers – UEFA Second Round.
A country traumatised by war, Ukraine’s football team put up a resilient and brave display to trump Steve Clarke’s side. Goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk put the Ukrainians in a comfortable position.
Callum McGregor’s goal made things exciting for the last 15 minutes or so before Artem Dovbyk killed things off once and for all in the 5th minute of stoppage time. Speaking to Sky Sports (h/t Daily Record) after the game, Robertson revealed how much the loss hurt.
“It’s taken us 11 games to get here, finishing second and getting a home play-off and we have to hurt. The World Cup has gone for another four years and that’s really hard for us because we all have dreams of playing in that big tournament and we didn’t put in a performance that justified that.”
The Scots finished second in their qualifiers group before this, behind Denmark and ahead of teams such as Austria and Israel, to earn their place in the second round. However, it is Ukraine who will now face Wales in Cardiff for a shot at qualifying for the FIFA WC.
“We know there will be scrutiny coming our way and we’ll be under fire but in there we have to stick together and look ahead to the Nations League.”
It would be heartbreak for Robbo, of course, considering he captained Scotland to a stage where they were just two games away from sealing WC qualification.
It would have been a good sight for the Reds fans to see another Liverpool player at the grandest stage of international football later this year. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Robbo joined LFC from Hull City after they were relegated and has come a long, long way in his career. But as privileged as it may sound, these last few weeks would have been shattering for the Scotsman.
The Reds finished second to Manchester City in the PL on the last day of the season and lost the UEFA Champions League final to Real Madrid- two matches where Robbo played for us.
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