SCOTLAND and Switzerland had a nation on the edge of their seats last night in a nervy, end-to-end 1-1 draw.
The eyes of Europe were watching too – and not all through their fingers like the Tartan Army.
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Dreams of qualification from the group stage are still alive thanks to Scott McTominay‘s heavily deflected shot – cancelled out 13 minutes later by Xherdan Shaqiri‘s wonderstrike.
Steve Clarke‘s side hit the post in search of a winner, and Angus Gunn kept them in it with some great saves to keep the score down in the tightly fought contest.
It was entertaining, edge of the seat stuff, even if it wasn’t one for the purists.
But not everyone was impressed with the action-packed game.
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Infact it came in for all-round criticism from an unlikely detractor who claimed the spectacle would have upset one of the great icons of football.
Pele once called football the ‘beautiful game’ but after watching last night’s clash Argentinian World Cup winner Ossie Ardiles said: “You must be joking!”
In a bizarre outburst on X.com, formerly Twitter, he took aim at both teams and then called out the punditry and commentary teams on BBC too.
The former Spurs and Newcastle boss wrote: “Scotland vs Switzerland. What a terrible terrible game it was. How can two teams play so bad? No idea going forward.
“Pele, immortals words: Football is the beautiful game… You must be joking. What an embarrassment.
“The comments in TV, if anything, even worse!”
Ardiles’ harsh words come a month after he touched down in Scotland to promote an auction of his old team-mate Diego Maradona‘s Golden Ball trophy from the 1986 World Cup.
But fans defended the teams.
One replied: “Disappointed in you Ossie, not every team is blessed with a Maradona, Cruyff or Pele.
“Each team tried the best they could with the talents they possessed, they both attacked and neither sat back and played dull, defensive football for the draw.”
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Another Newcastle fan stood up for the Scots too against his side’s old boss and said: “Compared to who? Argentina or Brazil? Get on Ur bike Ozzie man! Two sides without a world class player between them having to work hard for the result.”
Anthony Ralston also came in for criticism too after his loose pass played in Xherdan Shaqiri for the spectacular equaliser.
But Andy Robertson rallied round the right-back who looked crest-fallen as they took the Tartan Army acclaim at the end of the game.
Players piled into the stand to celebrate the point with loved ones after their humbling 5-1 opening defeat to Germany.
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And skipper Robertson said: “That was much more like us. We got off to a great start and then we made a mistake.
“Not many people come back from that, it was difficult for Anthony but he came back from that.”
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