Quote Originally Posted by Moodybluebird View Post
Incredible that Scotland have reached the finals of 11 major tournaments (8 W/C and 3 Euros) but not once have they progressed beyond the group stages.

By comparison Wales have reached the finals of 3 major tournaments and on each occasion have made it beyond the group stages. QF in 1958 W/C, SF in the 2016 Euros and the last 16 (at least) in the current competition.

All the home nations (and ROI) have a decent record of doing well once they've qualified for major championships, which makes Scotland's abject failure to do well a mystery. They have produced many good teams and some excellent players over the years but are still unable to excel in either the World Cup finals or the Euros. A very strange one indeed.
They were really unlucky in two WCs in the 70s -
74 and 78 I think, haven't looked it up,
but IIRC they went out on GD in one year and drew their games in the other, becoming the only unbeaten side in the finals - the winners having lost one of the group games.
Crazy stat