Topic Originator: Stanza
Date: Tue 9 Dec 16:07
Quote:
wee eck, Tue 9 Dec 14:14
Also from wikipedia - `He was left out of the Scotland squad for the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. He had made the initial 40-man squad but missed the final cut of 22 as Donald Ford and Denis Law were selected instead.`
Denis was 34 and well past his best but had never played in the WC finals and it was thought his selection was partly based on sentiment as I recall.
My memory is that Denis was indeed "past it" in 1974, and he only played in Scotland`s first match, against Zaire, and he found it difficult to match the pace of the game. In Willie Ormond`s defence, it was a fairly inexperienced squad, with only Law and Bremner having more than two dozen caps.
Although Donald Ford was in the squad he didn`t play any games in the finals, and in fact never played for Scotland again. Morgan, Dalglish, Jordan and Lorimer were Scotland`s attackers. (Jimmy Johnstone was on the bench, but didn`t feature at all!)
I suspect Joe Harper might have been picked ahead of Dixie Deans to go to Germany, but I am doubtful if either would have played. However, with hindsight the goal threat from either would have been useful, as just one more goal against Zaire would have seen Scotland qualify for the next round.
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