The draw
GROUP 1
France, Romania, Poland, Israel, Slovakia, Azerbaijan.
GROUP 2
Denmark, Spain, Belgium, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus, Armenia.
GROUP 3
Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, Iceland,
Turkey.
GROUP 4
Italy, Ukraine, Croatia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia.
GROUP 5
Holland, Norway, Czech Republic, Belarus, Malta, Luxembourg.
GROUP 6
Republic of Ireland, Portugal, Northern Ireland, Austria, Latvia,
Liechtenstein.
GROUP 7
Germany, Wales, Bulgaria, Georgia, Albania, Moldova.
GROUP 8
Russia, Greece, Scotland, Finland, Faroe Islands, San Marino.
* WINNERS of each group automatically qualify for finals. They will be
joined by the best six runners-up from the eight groups. Two worst
runners-up, judged on results between top four teams in each group, will
play off on neutral ground in December, 1995.
SCOTLAND manager Craig Brown and SFA chief executive Jim Farry will
meet the representatives of their European Championship opponents in
Finland where the dates for all the qualifying matches will be set, but
already the Scots are steeling themselves for the most concentrated
series of matches they have ever experienced.
The workload will be so severe, in fact, that Brown intends speaking
with Scottish League secretary Peter Donald today, seeking to have six
free Saturdays next season prior to the home and away matches against
Russia, Greece, and Finland.
''Some might think I am being greedy, but having the players free from
premier division football before these qualifying ties would allow us
ideal preparation,'' Brown said.
The league should be able to accommodate Brown's request because there
will be four divisions of 10 clubs each next season which means
premier-division sides will play only 36 league matches.
UEFA have decreed that qualifying matches will not be permitted in
December of this year or in February and May of next year, which means
Brown's side will have to play 10 matches in as many months.
The obvious months in which to play the Group 8 qualifying ties are
September, October, and November of this year and March, April, June,
August, September, October, and November of next year, but the SFA may
have to consider playing one of their matches this coming December even
though they are not in favour of playing internationals in that month.
''I warned about the difficulties before the draw,'' said Farry, who was
not happy when UEFA made their decision about certain months.
However, he has no choice but to make the best of working out a
schedule which won't harm Scotland's chances of qualifying for the
finals to be played at eight English grounds in 1996, and he and Brown
will travel to Helsinki on Saturday, February 5. That day and the
following one will be used to arrive at agreements with the people from
Russia, Greece, Finland, Faroe Islands, and San Marino on when the
various ties will be played.
''The schedule will be extremely tight and intense,'' said Farry.
''There will be no time to relax. Hopefully, though, that will focus
everyone's attention on the job in hand.''
The chief executive added that all of Scotland's home matches will be
played at Hampden and all four sides of the stadium, still in the
process of extensive refurbishment, will be used. Given the unglamorous
look of Group 8 it will be difficult to fill the national stadium. Even
the dangerous sides in the section, Greece and Russia, who finished
first and second respectively in Group 5 of the World Cup qualifying
campaign and will play in the finals this summer, are unlikely to
attract full houses.
The SFA say they will reward loyalty to the national cause by offering
concessions to supporters. For instance, fans might be able to buy three
tickets for the price of two. But offering attractive incentives might
be the only way to have enough people in to form a supporters' quorum
when Finland, the Faroe Islands, and San Marino come calling.
When Saturday's draw in Manchester came down to two last balls inside
of which were the names of the world champions, Germany, and Russia the
SFA's commercial director Bill Wilson, who thinks in sterling, was
praying for the Germans. ''When we were drawn with the Russians I saw
#1.25m, which is the amount a game against the world champions would
have generated, disappear,'' he said.
However, for Brown, Farry, and the supporters the real reward will be
in qualifying for the European finals and, in fact, Wilson's department
also would benefit immediately by as much as #2m for a place in the
final stages.
Amassing enough points from the games even though they will come in
rapid succession is the priority and, therefore, perhaps the best thing
Brown could do is adopt John Major's way and return to basics. Apart
from their performances in the 1990 European Championship finals in
Sweden, Scotland have not been among the most inspiring sides in world
football, and there were times, especially before the last European
finals, when we were in danger of boring the fans.
Instead of continuing where they left off in Sweden, the Scots
experienced a bad night against Switzerland in the first match of the
World Cup qualifying series and the campaign slipped downhill from
there.
The Scottish game is badly in need of the surge of excitement which
would be brought on by a good and successful qualifying campaign this
time around, and the best way to ensure that would be to use FIFA law's
to the full to ensure release of players and to operate with a compact
group. But that is easier said than done.
Brown's most significant contribution, however, would be to send out
teams committed to attacking. There is nothing positive to be gained by
curbing the instincts of Scottish players or by spending too much time
talking about the other sides.
The manager should be seeking to combine natural aggression with
whatever skills he will have around
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