On 29th November 1961 Scotland and Czechoslovakia met at the Heysel Stadion in Brussels. The match was a result of both teams winning three of of their qualifying group games, with Scotland beating the Czechs 3-2 and the Czechs beating the Scots 4-0 . Had the group been decided using goal difference the Czechs would have won the group easily as they had beaten the Republic of Ireland 3-1 and 7-1, Scotland could only beat the Irish 4-1 and 3-0. In a match played during the week, and kicking off at lunchtime, it is hardly surprising that the attendance is recorded at 7,000. The players that took the field that day were:

Scotland; Edward Connachan (Dunfermline), Alex Hamilton (Dundee), Eric Caldow (Rangers) captain, Pat Crerand (Celtic), John Ure (Dundee), Jim Baxter (Rangers), Ralph Brand (Rangers), John White (Tottenham), Ian St John (Liverpool), Denis Law (Torino), Hugh Robertson (Dundee).

Czechoslovakia; Villiam Schrojf, Jiri Hledik, Jan Popluhar, Jiri Tichy, Svatopluk Pluskal, Josef Masopust, Tomas Pospichal, Adolf Scherer, Andrei Kvasnak, Rudolf Kucera, Josef Jelinek. 

The referee was Gerhard Versyp from the host country, Belgium.

Included in the Scotland side for this important match were 2 players making their first international starts (Connachan and Robertson), 2 others were making their second appearances (Hamilton and Ure), and another 3 players had less than 10 caps each. In fact the most experienced player was Caldow winning his 35th cap, the team total for this match was 100 caps exactly. Hugh Robertson not only won his first, and only, cap but also celebrated (?) his 22nd birthday on the day of the match.

In what appears to be a fairly even match Scotland went ahead in the 35th minute with St John the scorer. With Scotland only 20 minutes away from qualification the Czechs equalised through Hledik. To which St John promptly replied a minute later to again put the Scots in the driving seat. With just 8 minutes remaining Scherer scored for the Czechs to take the match in to extra-time. Further goals from Pospichal (95 mins) and Kvasnak (105 mins) took the Czechs through to the Finals in Chile. In the tournament the Czechs would eventually lose the Final 1-3 to Brazil. (Ian McColl, the Scotland manager at the time, died in October 2008.)

 

In total Scotland have played 7 games in Brussels, Heysel and Constant Van den Stock Stadions, and lost 6 (including the game v's the Czechs). The only success came on 20th May 1951 with a resounding 0-5 win. The worst, in my opinion, came on 1st April 1987 and I am sure that many of you will remember the game! Scotland lined up with 4 Dundee United players in the starting team (Maurice Malpas (15th cap), Dave Narey (33rd), Paul Sturrock (20th) and Jim McInally (1st)) with former United player Richard Gough (31st) also playing. Belgium however had Nico Claesen! Belgium won 4-1 with Claesen scoring 3 and Vercauteren adding the other, Paul McStay scored for Scotland. 2 years 6 months later Claesen would help Antwerp destroy Dundee United (this is a story in itself (or not!!)) and make Malpas, Narey, Sturrock and McInally wish they had never been to Belgium!

Scotland have also met Belgium in Liege (3rd February 1971) and Brugge (2nd June 1974) with no success. In the game in Brugge Scotland had 5 Leeds United players starting (Harvey, McQueen, Bremner, Lorimer, Jordan) and lost 2-1.

Two notable Scots to have made their international debuts in Belgium include a certain Archibald Gemmill of Derby County in Liege 1971 and Gordon McQueen of Leeds in Brugge 1974. Some other Scots you may have heard about also made their first international starts against Belgium include;

Eddie Turnbull (Hibernian) and David Duncan (East Fife) on 28th April 1948, 2-0 Scotland. Duncan scored 1 of the goals. Eamonn Bannon (Dundee United) on 19th December 1979, 3-1 Belgium.