Scotland 1-0 Spain: Euro 2017 – as it happened
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Scotland were unlikely winners over Spain, but couldn’t score the crucial second goal that would have sent them through to the quarterfinals
Updated
Thu 27 Jul 2017 16.42 EDT
First published on Thu 27 Jul 2017 14.00 EDT
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An email from Simon McMahon: “ Comparisons with Euro 96?” he asks. “England doing the Scots a favour, Scotland unable to get the second goal that would take them through. Men or women, it seems Scotland will find a way not to qualify.”
Full-time: Scotland 1-0 Spain
Scotland are out! It was a heroic effort from Scotland, who defied the odds to beat Spain, but couldn’t win by the two-goal margin required. They rode their luck at times, but had the chances to win this game by more than one goal.
Leanne Crichton had the pick of them and will have sleepless nights mulling over her extraordinary volleyed miss from close range. Meanwhile in Tilburg, England have beaten Portugal, which means they advance to the quarter-finals as group winners, with Spain going through in second place.
90+2 min: Weir launches the ball into the penalty area, Scotland threaten briefly but Spain eventually clear. It’s all over!
90+2 min: Marta Corredera shoots from distance and Gemma Fay saves. Scotland win a free-kick just inside the Spain half and this is surely their last chance to get the ball forward.
90+1 min: We’re into the first of two recommended minutes of added time and Spain have the ball.
90 min: Spain win a corner and then a throw-in deep, deep in Scotland territory. Understandably, their players are in no particular rush to take either. Scotland need to get the ball up the other end of the field.
88 min: The match enters its knockings with Scotland winning, but not by enough. They need another goal! In Tilburg, England are holding up their end of the bargain by beating Portugal.
86 min: Another free-kick for Scotland, deep in Spain territory on the right touchline. Caroline Weir curls a left-footed cross towards the far post, where a dense thicket of red bodies prevents Leanne Crichton from gewtting her head to the ball. Good delivery from Weir mind; certainly better than her previous one.
85 min: Lana Clelland is fouled, so Scotland have a free-kick wide on the left. Caroline Weir sends the ball into the penalty area, where Spain goalkeeper Sandra Panos claims it unopposed.
83 min: Spain substitution I didn’t get around to telling you about a couple of minutes ago: Mariona Caldentey off, Barbara Latorre on.
79 min: Ifeoma Dieke clears one off the line with a header to keep Scottish hopes alive, performing miracles to keep Maria Paz’s header out. The Spanish player was already celebrating, but was cruelly denied. Moments previously, Gemma Fay had saved well to keep out a Alexia Putellas header that was fizzing goalwards. This is edge-of-the-seat stuff.
77 min: Another Scotland counter-attack is nipped in the bud when Caroline Weir is crowded off the ball while trying to advance up the pitch. She didn’t have the necessary speed.
75 min: A leaden-footed first touch from Caroline Weir gifts possession back to Spain with Scotland on the counter-attack and looking dangerous. Scotland are defending deep in numbers and need another goal.
73 min: Scotland substitution: Fiona Brown on for Joanne Love.
71 min: Vicky Losada goes down under a challenge from Frankie Brown while trying to control a delivery into the Scotland penalty area. My first impression was that she was tripped and ought to have got a penalty, but we’ll see what the replay shows ... if we’re given one to look at. Referee Jana Adamkova seemed in no doubt and was well positioned.
68 min: Erin Cuthbert is penalised for a foul on her new marker, Marta Corredera. Free-kick for Spain, halfway inside the Scotland half. Silvia Meseguer floats the ball into the box from where it’s only half-cleared. Mariona Caldentey floats the ball into the box again, from where Maria Paz skims a header wide from six or seven yards. That’s a bad miss - will Spain pay for all these missed chances?
67 min: Spain are dominating again, with Scotland’s players starting to visibly tire from their first half efforts and all the shadow-chasing those efforts entailed.
64 min: Spain attack down the left flank, with the cross coming in from Alexia Putellas. It’s headed clear by Rachel Corsie. Moments later, Silvia Meseguer cuts in from the right and hammers the cross-bar with a fine rising effort from distance. That was a wonderful shot.
62 min: Gemma Fay flaps at a long cross from deep, but enjoys another let-off as the ball cannons wide off the chest of Frankie Brown, who is tussling with an opponent. Scotland get the goal-kick, even though Spain should have had the corner.
59 min: Having looked complete no-hopers in the first half, France are growing into this game. Spain’s early dominance has evaporated and they’re starting to look a mite edgy. Assuming both sets of players are aware of the score between England and Portugal, Spain’s are likely to be as nervous as Scotland’s are buoyed.
57 min: Good play from Gemma Fay in the Scotland goal. She spreads herself well, star-jump style, to keep out a close range shot from a narrow angle. From the ensuing corner, Marta Torrejon heads wide. Spain substitution: Marta Corredera on for recently-booked left-back Leila Ouahabi.
55 min: Leila Ouahabi gets booked for a foul on Erin Cuthbert. Corrections and Clarifications Department: It was Leanne Ross who made way for the substitute Lana Clelland - apologies for the case of mistaken identity.
52 min: Leanne Crichton, who I thought had been substituted but evidently wasn’t, runs her hands through her hair in frustration after volleying high over the bar from three or four yards out when scoring looked far easier. That’s an astonishing miss.
50 min: Nikita Parris boosts Scotland’s chances of advancing to the last eight by firing England ahead against Portugal again. England lead 2-1, which means another goal would see Scotland through. As things stand, England and Spain would go through.
48 min: Spain corner, Which Vicky Losada takes. The ball comes back her way and Erin Cuthbert forced to concede another corner. Alexia Putellas goes close with two consecutive efforts from close range that are blocked. Frankie Brown, it is, who saves the day for Scotland with a block on the line.
Second half: Scotland 1-0 Spain
46 min: There’s one change in personnel on each side as Spain get the ball rolling for the second half. Maria Paz comes in for Spain, with Jennifer Hermoso making way. In the Scottish ranks, Leanne Crichton comes off and is replaced by Lana Clelland. Clelland goes straight in up front with Erin Cuthbert moving to a wide right position in midfield, so it’s as you were formation wisde with Scotland persevering with their 4-5-1.
A word about goalkeeping: While she has pulled off two or three splendid saves, Gemma Fay’s performance in the Scotland goal has been extremely patchy and she’s very lucky not to have been sent off. At the other end of the pitch, her opposite number, Sandra Panos, was badly at fault for the goal her team conceded, while England’s goal against Portugal in the group’s other game was also the result of a comedy goalkeeping blunder. England keeper Siobhan Chamberlain didn’t cover herself in glory for Portugal’s equaliser either. Is there a point to all that? I don’t know - make of it what you will.
Possession stats: Scotland 32%-68% Spain.
Half-time: Scotland 1-0 Spain
No, really. It’s scarcely credible, but Scotland’s players troop off for their half-time brew, in a match Spain have completely dominated, with the most unlikely of leads. It won’t be enough to see them through to the quarter-finals if things stay as they are, but they’ve given themselves an excellent platform on which to build. They need to win by two goals and hope England beat Portugal. At the moment it’s 1-1 in Group D’s other game.
GOAL! Scotland 1-0 Spain (Weir)
Unbelievable scenes! Completely against the run of play, Scotland take the lead. A long ball from Leanne Crichton on the halfway line drew Spain goalkeeper Sandra PAnos to the edge of her area. Under pressure from Leanne Ross, she made a complete dog’s breakfast of trying to clear the dropping ball. It broke to Caroline Weir, whose low drive somehow managed to creep over the line despite the best efforts of a frantically back-pedalling Panos.
39 min: Gemma Fay finds herself in the thick of the action once again, deliberately handling the ball outside her own penalty are but getting away with a yellow card. She’s lucky. Free-kick for Spain, which
35 min: Scotland ride their luck, relying on some desperate last-ditch defending to repel two successive Spanish attacks. Goalkeeper Gemma Fay shows her best and worst qualities, getting her team into all sorts of bother with some indecisive dithering before being bailed out by a defender, before pulling off an excellent save an instant later to save their bacon. Moments afterwards she pulls off another smart save from a corner, diving low to her left to keep out a powerful downward header from Jennifer Hermoso. Spain are ramping up the pressure here.