Preamble Hello. The greatest, saddest love story of our time does not involve Romeo and Juliet, or Heathcliff and Cathy, or even Dawson and Pacey (bromance my foot); it is between Scotland and the World Cup.
Johnny Rep's long-ranger; Taffarel's save; Alan Hansen and Willie Miller running into each other: for decades Scotland have had their heart broken by the World Cup but, even though they have never gone past first base, they keep coming back for more with puppy-dog enthusiasm.
There is the chance of untold, unforgettable joy during their match against Holland at Hampden tonight, but there is also the enormous fear that it will just provide a new spin on a familiar gut-wrenching theme.
An already unbearably tense situation is complicated uncomfortably by the fact that Scotland don't even know what result they need. A draw will clinch second place in the group (if they lose, they will finish second only if Macedonia and Norway draw tonight), but might not be enough to secure a play-off place under Uefa's ridiculous qualification system. A win doesn't secure a play-off place either, but it gets them a much better chance.
This might seem lilke a piddling issue - you play football to win, right - but it's far from it and could be a real inconvenience on a night when Scotland's minds need to be as clear as possible. That system really is not fair.
Team news Scotland make five changes from the side that beat Macedonia 2-0 on Saturday, the majority because of injury and suspension: Craig Gordon, Callum Davidson, Graham Alexander, James McFadden and Steven Fletcher are replaced by David Marshall, Steven Whittaker, Paul Hartley, Shaun Maloney and Steven Naismith, who starts for the first time. The Holland keeper Maarten Stekelenburg has a finger injury and is replaced by the inexperienced Michel Vorm.
Scotland (4-1-4-1) Marshall, Hutton, Weir, McManus, Whittaker; Hartley; S Naismith, Brown, Fletcher, Maloney; Miller.
Substitutes: Neil Alexander, Graham Alexander, Gary Caldwell, O'Connor,
Steven Fletcher, Commons, Rae.
Holland (4-3-3) Vorm; Van Der Wiel, Ooijer, Mathijsen,
Van Bronckhorst; De Zeeuw, Sneijder, De Jong; Kuyt, van Persie, Robben. Substitutes: Velthuizen, Heitinga, Schaars, Braafheid, Van der Vaart, Elia, Huntelaar.
Referee Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark)
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