Sports
AT the end, it was the re-emergence of an old goalscoring hero in John McGinn that lit up the Hampden night, but in every other sense this was the dawning of the age of Doak.
Young Ben, 19, fearless and flying down Scotland’s right, against Josko Gvardiol, the renowned £77m man from Manchester City. No contest.
The margin of Scotland’s victory was tight. The margin of Doak’s superiority was vast.
Doak was electrifying long before the endgame. The Liverpool teenager, on loan at Middlesbrough, was a whirling dervish, a human blur taking the fight to Croatia.
With the numerical advantage, you expected Steve Clarke’s go-to men to step forward. Scott McTominay, Andy Robertson, Billy Gilmour?
No, the one who was causing Croatia the problems was the youngest and most inexperienced one of all.
Doak broke down the right, scampering past Gvardiol, but failed to pick out Tommy Conway. Still, he signalled his intent and if the defender took notice he was still powerless to do much about it.
Doak was running free outside Gilmour and screaming for a pass when Gilmour went alone and lashed one over the bar. Chance gone.
Doak, not Modric, was now the most interesting character out there. By a distance.
He appeared at the back post and almost got on the back of Ryan Gauld’s fine work. Close, but not close enough.
With 19 minutes left, he went into turbo charge and Gvardiol, one of the costliest and most composed defenders in English football, suddenly had the steadiness of a blancmange.
Doak skinned him and hit the byeline. The ball came out to Gilmour. Big chance, Scotland. Big, ugly attempt by Gilmour.
What was impressive about Scotland was their will to win.
They made a litany of errors and you know that they can be a whole lot better than this. But they believed. They dug in. They kept going, kept trying to overcome their own shortcomings.
And Doak led the charge. Another brilliant run tormented Croatia, then he did Gvardiol again and lashed his shot at Dominik Kotarski.
The Croat looked like a man who didn’t know what day of the week it was. He was hesitant and fearful of the young marauder. And he was right to be.
The next time Doak got it was the marvellous moment of mayhem that saw Scotland score. Poor, persecuted Gvardiol was left without a name again by Doak. He thundered an effort at Kotarski, who parried to McGinn. Goal.
Four minutes of normal time left, but nothing about Hampden was normal at that stage. The minutes ticked on and the winless run ended.
The Tartan Army will bid it good riddance while, at the same time, heralding the arrival of a new darling.
The World Cup draw is next month. Scotland’s seeding is most likely not going to be what they would have wanted and the challenge ahead is going to be arduous, but optimism returned on Friday. And that’ll do nicely for now. – BBCSport
A.I
Nov. 16, 2024
Tags: John McGinn
