Former Scotland striker Kris Boyd said Steve Clarke’s side had “made the nation proud” by drawing with Switzerland to keep their hopes of reaching the last 16 of Euro 2024 alive.
of Sky Sports Commentators described the 5-1 defeat to Germany in the tournament’s opening game as “embarrassing” but were quick to praise the players for a much-improved performance in their second Group A match.
A win against Hungary on Sunday would see Scotland progress beyond the group stage of a major tournament for the first time.
They took the lead early on after a swift counter-attack when Scott McTominay smashed in Callum McGregor’s cut-back after a deflection from Fabian Schar.
Switzerland soon equalized through veteran Xherdan Shaqiri, who latched on to a loose pass from Anthony Ralston and scored a brilliant one-touch shot from the edge of the penalty area.
“After Friday night’s performance there were questions and criticisms, and rightly so,” Boyd said. Sky Sports News.
“Tonight they fought back and got in their faces, typical Scottish fashion.
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Kris Boyd celebrated scoring Scotland’s opening goal against Switzerland in a crucial Euro 2024 group match.
“Switzerland are not a weak team at this level, but we held our own against them and managed to earn a draw.
“Obviously they’ve had some luck at times but I think Steve Clarke is relatively happy with the result.
“From where we were on Friday night there was bound to be a reaction and we got it tonight.
“There may have been some harsh words on the training ground in recent days but that’s the life of a footballer: there are good times and bad times.”
“Scotland have proven they can compete at this level and although it’s a sudden turnaround they have made the country proud tonight.”
Clark: It was exactly what I expected.
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Steve Clarke insisted it was the right move for Scotland after their side kept their Euro 2024 knockout hopes alive with a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their second group game.
Scotland manager Steve Clark:
“That’s what we expected. This is the way we’ve played as a team for the last three or four years and that’s why we’re here in major tournaments.”
“We knew what to do and the players knew what to do. I thought it was a good team performance against a strong opponent.”
“It’s always about doing better and as a footballer and a manager sometimes things don’t go your way and that certainly wasn’t the case on Friday night. Tonight it was about getting back to what we do best.”
“The reality is, when the draw was made and we found out we would be playing the hosts in the opening game, we looked at the two remaining group games and thought: ‘Maybe there will be some points from that’ and that’s exactly what happened.”
