[0762]

Agreed re that last line! It appears that FIFA are using this tourney as a test bed for VAR and certain changes to footie rules. There were gonna be casualties and sadly Scotland is one of them. The previous system would've rendered Scotland qualifying to the next round of 16 and that is as much of a sickener TBF. However, I concur with SCO re Scotland's "implosion" which was highly unsatisfactory from a Scottish fan's perspective now that I've viewed the last quarter again. They had a deserved 3-0 lead that should've been 4-0 with over 15 mins remaining!!! You "see the game out" tactically and, Shelley Kerr, who fielded the correct starting line up, did not respond to the Argentinian coach's move to bring on fresh legs after 3-0. Some of the Scottish players looked like they were "dead on their feet" and Kerr "froze" on the touch line instead of moving to counter that desperate move by "closing space" and "holding firm" in spite of bad refereeing v a team that they were superior to. Hope Solo's previous criticism of Kerr's tactics was absolutely correct IMO - they drew one game out of three and Kerr is worthy of criticism particularly v Japan and Argentina!! Also my other bugbear was the fact that the Scottish goalie, Lee Alexander, is not tall enough and therefore adequate cover is required or find a suitable replacement!!! This is not an anti Alexander line but a criticism based on avoidable goals lost v Japan and Argentina that exposed Alexander's lack of height! I would've saved both these tentative shots because I am nimble and slightly taller than Alexander. I believe if Scotland had Correia, the Argie goalie, in their team, Scotland would've been top or second top of their group. On a positive note, these Scot ladies have still done Scotland proud in the past 12 months and one can only hope that they will learn from this disappointing campaign in France and many young Scot girls and boys will be inspired to follow their heroines to even greater heights with the appropriate encouragement.