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Where would Scotland be without John McGinn? It’s a question Steve Clarke must hope he will never have to answer after the Aston Villa midfielder scored twice and Che Adams recorded his first international goal to help them pass the Faroe Islands.
Kieran Tierney also stood out with an outstanding performance that included three assists, although having established just one goal lead at halftime, it was McGinn who provided the spark. However, after Austria’s 4-0 win at home to leader Denmark, Scotland is second in Group F and may see a way to reach the final for the first time since 1998.
“We had to be patient to get the second goal and we did,” Clarke said. “They had good opportunities, so we could have been better defensively, but inside camp we are positive.”
After draws against Austria and Israel, Clarke made three changes from the team that started in Tel Aviv last Sunday when Lyndon Dykes returned to teammate Che Adams in attack and Kenny McLean was brought into midfield. Craig Gordon was selected in goal in place of David Marshall on a play that the manager insisted had been planned and not a reflection of Marshall’s performance against Israel.
Having drawn against the Faroe Islands in successive European Championship qualifiers in 1999 and 2002, Scotland was well aware that this would not necessarily be a walk in the park against opponents now ranked 107 in the world. Håkan Ericson’s team was promoted from their Nations League group last year and came into this match having scored in nine of their last 10 matches, including the first goal in their 3-1 loss to Austria in Vienna.
A fluid movement in the seventh minute that began with a raked pass from Scott McTominay from his own half and ended with a precise shot from McGinn after he was selected by Tierney should certainly have calmed some local nerves. However, Scotland were often guilty of attempting too many passes around their opponents’ box in the first half and struggled to create another decent opportunity, with Gordon having to produce a brilliant save to negate Brandur Hendriksson’s long-distance effort at the other extreme. A McTominay header off the far post from Ryan Fraser’s free kick was the closest they came to doubling their lead before the break despite enjoying more than 70% of possession.
Disaster nearly struck within 60 seconds of the restart when Gordon lost a cross ball and the Hearts veteran was relieved to be able to catch the ball on the second down. But with Tierney operating as an auxiliary left back as Scotland advanced, once again it was McGinn who was in the right place at the right time to head into the excellent center of the Arsenal defender.
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The best was yet to come when Adams, aiming from outside the area after brilliantly flipping his marker, rolled his cleats on the ball before unleashing an unstoppable shot at the net. When Fraser scored in his third consecutive international appearance off an Andy Robertson cross with 20 minutes to go, it looked like this could turn into a home run.
Fortunately for the Faroe Islands, that did not materialize, although Gordon had to be vigilant later to keep his clean sheet intact.
