Steve Clarke vows Scotland will make quicker tournament return this time

22-Jun-2021 22:48:09 | The Guardian

Croatia defeat ended first finals campaign since 1998
‘We’ll make sure it’s not 23 years before next tournament’

Steve Clarke vowed to make Scottish appearances at major championships a more regular occurrence in the immediate aftermath of Croatia’s 3-1 success at Hampden Park. The Scots knew victory against Croatia would take them into Euro 2020’s last 16 but, by Clarke’s own admission, were outplayed by Zlatko Dalic’s re-energised side. This marked a first finals for Scotland since the 1998 World Cup.

“At the moment it’s just disappointment we are out,” said the Scotland manager when asked about his emotions. “We wanted to stay in as long as we could. Disappointed we haven’t managed to get out of the group stage. You have to give me tonight to get over that and then a few days we will all sit down and take stock and look at our performances. I will look at my performance and the performance of the players and we will look at what we can do better in the future. And we’ll make sure it’s not 23 years before we go to the next tournament.”