It was an obvious one, really. After celebrating Scotland making it to Euro 2024 by counting down the top 50 players to have played for the international side in the previous 50 years, how should The Scotsman mark their return to a World Cup after so long?
Well, goals win matches – and they certainly did on the night Scotland qualified against Denmark. Needing a win to ensure their automatic qualification, Scotland came up with three of the best goals they have ever scored in the 4-2 win.
At the time of writing, Scotland have scored 1443 goals in 848 games. The original plan was to come up with a top 25 – just under three per cent of the total scored. The crème de la crème. It was the best homework assignment ever.
To keep things slightly more modern and increase the chance of finding footage on YouTube, we set a slightly arbitrary time limit of 1973 - the year before Scotland returned to a World Cup for the first time since 1958.
It also happens to be this writer’s lifetime. This meant Joe Jordan’s glorious header v Czechoslovakia to seal qualification could be considered. Did it make it? Mibbes eyes, mibbes naw.
To aid credibility, former Scotland international Pat Nevin was recruited to sift through goal after goal. It also helps when discussing moments of genius such as Mo Johnston’s acrobatic overhead kick against Cyprus in 1989 if someone contributing to the conversation can say, ‘Oh yes, I crossed the ball in for that one’.
It’s also advantageous if this self-same expert is one of the candidates in the mix for scoring one of Scotland’s greatest goals.
Indeed, a couple of Pat’s five goals for Scotland made the long list, including the well-struck – he calls it a top-poke, yes another one of those – effort from the edge of the box into the top corner in a pre-Euro ’92 friendly against the USA. It was further distinguished by later featuring in the Mike Myers film So I Married An Axe Murderer.
Not even this was enough to ensure that it made the cut though I suspect it was self-deprecation on Pat’s part as much as anything that saw the goal discarded when it came to the final 25. And that’s what we are left with: a final 25 since 1973.
It isn’t the definitive list and it’s not even the list we might come up with today were we to sit down together again.
As per his musical tastes, Pat is apt to come up with left-field choices. Definitely one of them comes under that description. See if you can work it out. And even one of the top 5 is not necessarily what you would expect it to be. At least it’s not the one you would necessarily pick as being the goalscorer-in-question’s best.
But isn’t that all part of the fun.
1. No 25 - Davie Cooper v Australia 20/11/85
It’s no surprise that a player possessing of the sweetest left foots ever seen in the game should feature in a best Scotland goals feature. This goal – a free kick – came in the vital World Cup qualifying play-off first leg against Australia, which Scotland won 2-0. Cooper swept home the first from the edge of the D with those old deep Hampden goals making it look even better as the ball searched out the low left-hand corner like an Exocet missile. | Getty Images
2. No 24 - John McGinn v Austria 25/3/21
An overhead kick. Just not That one. And while it might not have been as elegant as the more recent one, nor as important, it’s worth its place here for the improvisation required. McGinn turns Ryan Christie’s speculative header into the box into an assist by tumbling backwards and hooking over his shoulder into the net. | SNS Group
3. No 23 - Derek Johnstone v Wales 17/5/78
A bit of an unheralded gem this one in the 1-1 Home International Championships draw. The build-up isn’t bad either. Kenny Dalglish to Archie Gemmill, someone who knows a bit about great goals. The midfielder turns provider here with a lovely outside of the boot pass from the right that Johnstone headbutts into the net from distance – one of the most powerful headers ever seen at Hampden. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602
4. No 22 - Andy Robertson v Cyprus 8/6/19
It’s fitting that record-breaking manager Steve Clarke’s first game in charge of Scotland was distinguished by such a fine strike in this 2-1 Euros qualifier win. Days after winning the Champions League with Liverpool, Robertson takes a pass from McGinn and arrows one into the top corner from 22 yards. | SNS Group