Scotland v Brazil

As you get some cachaça chilled for Sunday (live on STV 2pm kick off) here’s some classic footage from the vintage vaults. First up 1974 and it’s David Harvey on fine form, long-range firing from Lorimer, a very young King Kenny and THAT MISS from Billy Bremner.

By the way, check out this Japanese footage that reveals that Rivelinos free kick was obviously a training ground move (watch the replay).

Then the classic encounter from ’82 when we foolishly went ahead. I remember the outrage not so much at Jimmy Hill’s ‘toe-poke’ comment as the fact that he didn’t even know who Narey was.

Then we open the 98 World Cup, give away an easy goal, take on back with JC cool as anything, then up steps Tom Boyd…This is the famous game when they bring on Ronaldo and we counter with Tosh McKinley…

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  1. Castle Rock says:

    Thanks for that Bella, brought back some fond (and painful!) memories.

  2. Donald Adamson says:

    I have to comment briefly about the match on Sunday, particularly Neymar’s accusations that the Scotland fans were “racist”. I don’t know who the idiot was that threw the banana on the pitch (it was thrown from the Clock End at the Emirates where many of the Scotland fans were) but to slur some 25,000 Scotland fans because of the shameful actions of one idiot can’t simply be explained by Neymar’s youth.

    Neymar has gone on to cite the jeering he received throughout the match as further evidence of the Scottish fans’ “racism”. This is absurd. I don’t know how it looked on the television but from where I was sitting in the stadium, early on in the first half, Neymar received a slight knock in the Scotland penalty box to which he responded by throwing himself to the ground and rolling around in apparent agony. Within some sixty seconds of this, he was not only back on his feet again but running at full pelt to receive a pass outside Scotland’s penalty box. That’s when the jeering of him started. He was jeered because he was cheating, it had nothing to do with his race.

    Neymar wasn’t jeered before this incident and it surely can’t have escaped his notice that his team mates are of a similar race to him but it was Neymar that was consistently jeered not his team mates. Had Neymar walked round the Emirates before and after the match he would have seen the Scotland fans at their best. The good-natured mixing of Scotland and Brazil fans, the ubiquitous mobile phones being used to record this mixing, the failed exchanges of samba drums and bagpipes and so on. One of the surreal memories I’ll take to my grave from yesterday was when, before the match, a small number of the Tartan Army (with index fingers pointing rhythmically to the sky) were patiently teaching a group of bemused Brazilian fans the words to ‘We’ll be Coming Down the Road’!

    Like so many previous Brazilian players, Neymar is being hailed as the new Pele. Pele was a great player not simply because of his astonishing range of football skills, but because he was an honest and intelligent player as well as being a great ambassador for Brazilian football. Neymar is no Pele.

  3. Donald Adamson says:

    Pedants corner. I didn’t see the banana-throwing incident in the game at the time but a friend who watched the game on TV told me that it happened after the penalty. Therefore the banana wasn’t thrown from the Clock End but from the North Bank End where many of the Brazil fans and many neutral fans were standing. Read into that what you will.

    1. Castle Rock says:

      Donald, that seems to match up with what the Brazilian Embassy staff member said, from the Hootsmon:

      “Support for the Tartan Army came from a member of the Brazilian embassy staff who, speaking in a personal capacity as a fan who attended the game, praised their behaviour.

      Fernanda Silva, 29, said: “From what I understand it came from the Brazilian end of the stadium. I’m really surprised about the allegations, because there was such a party atmosphere.

      “I was in with the Scots fans and I didn’t hear any racist abuse. They did complain about Neymar, but it was about his diving, which they felt was cheating.”

  4. Donald Adamson says:

    Castle Rock, thanks for this. Maybe Neymar has been talking to some of his team mates who play for Italian clubs, where racism is just as much of a problem, maybe a bigger problem than it is over here. But if Neymar is playing politics in anticipation of a move to the English Premier League, his comments are more likely to attract racists rather than deter them. Then again, it depends where he goes, I hope it isn’t Tottenham.

    The other thing that surprised me about the match was how small the uniformed police presence was for a crowd of 53,000. All the way to the match from Arsenal tube station, I saw a couple of police vans on Highbury Hill, a few dozen beat bobbies and I only saw about half a dozen mounted police.

    I mention this because I’ve got a mate who lives near the old Highbury (the other side of Highbury Hill from the Emirates) and we know that the police presence at Arsenal home games at both the Emirates and the old Highbury was/is huge compared to yesterday. Then again, maybe the Met were knackered after the events of Saturday! Either way, this too was a backhanded compliment to the Tartan Army and the Brazil fans.

  5. Castle Rock says:

    So now we know:

    “And now it has emerged the banana was thrown by a German from an area occupied by Brazil fans at Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC. A statement from the club said: “After consultation with the Metropolitan Police, Arsenal Football Club can confirm that a German teenage tourist has admitted throwing a banana on to the pitch during the Brazil v Scotland international friendly at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

    “The youngster was sitting in the North Bank of Emirates Stadium, an area of the stadium which was occupied by the official allocation of tickets to Brazil supporters, when he threw the banana on to the pitch during the second half of the match.

    “The Metropolitan Police is satisfied there was no racist intent and have confirmed that no further action will be taken.”

    I abhor racism but I abhor the ScottishBritish press more who jumped on the bandwagon to put ScotlandScottish supporters down.

  6. Donald Adamson says:

    Castle Rock, this is bizarre. Why on earth would a German teenager throw a banana onto the pitch (presumably) to celebrate a Brazil goal?

    If Neymar’s own instincts aren’t telling him to issue a public apology to the Scotland fans, sooner rather than later, I hope that someone at the Brazilian Football Confederation will pressure him into doing so.

    In the programme for the match the President of the CBF, Ricardo Teixeira, commented on the “friendliness” and “good-hearted ribbing” of the Tartan Army in a previous encounter between the two nations. That same spirit was evident on Sunday also and Neymar’s comments shouldn’t be allowed to detract from that, in spite of the attempts by the press to amplify this into a negative story about Scotland fans.

    Neymar can still redeem himself, though we’ll still jeer him for his cheating if we play them again! As for the press and its appetite for a negative story about Scottish football fans, that was beyond redemption a long long time ago.

  7. Donald Adamson says:

    I have emailed the CBF to ask President Teixeira to encourage Neymar to offer a public apology to the Scotland fans.

    If you want to send your own email to him or the CBF, you can contact the CBF on:

    http://www.cbf.com.br

    Go to the bottom right-hand side of the page, click on ‘Contact CBF’ (under ‘Contact’/’Contato’) to open the email window.

  8. Castle Rock says:

    Thanks for the link Donald, I’ll send something off, hope others will do the same.

    Good article over on Newsnet that’s worth a read:

    http://www.newsnetscotland.com/speakers-corner/1939-bananagate.html

    Hope he writes other pieces, he’s certainly good a good talent.

  9. Donald Adamson says:

    Castle Rock, it’s being reported this evening that Stewart Regan, the Chief Executive of the SFA, has written a letter today to the CBF asking for an official apology to the Scotland fans either from Neymar himself or the CBF? This is good news.

    Teixeira (who is the CBF) should be receptive to this as it will be in both his and Brazil’s interests to respond positively. He’s under a lot of pressure. You might remember that he was one of the three FIFA officials accused of taking bribes by the BBCs Panorama programme last year. Also Brazil are hosting the Confederations Cup in 2013 (the building programme is way behind schedule) and, of course, it’s hosting the World Cup in 2014. The last thing he/they need is something like this hanging over them. The wealthy CBF extravagantly bankrolls the Brazil national team and given that Teixeira will be President until the end of the tournament in 2014 he’s got a lot of leverage with Neymar. I think it will be much better if the apology comes from the player himself. Here’s hoping.

    Enjoyed the Newsnet piece btw. Nice one.

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