Saturday, June 23, 2018

Over-optimistic Scot

It's not often that I end up crying with laughter but today Léon came out with a classic...

Driving home from school and suddenly Léon, completely seriously, comes out with: The best Scotland ever did in the world Cup was in 1954. They came second, you know!

I lived with Dad for twenty odd years and I was absolutely certain, even with no access to google as I was driving, that if Scotland had ever made it to the World Cup final, dad would have mentioned it every four years, in true England-1966 fashion. I knew for certain, as all Scottish people my age do, that Scotland has never advanced beyond the group stage, but Léon was adamant. He was willing to concede he might have got the year wrong but it was definitely either 54 or 58!

So I checked wikipedia...


Group 3[edit]

TeamPldWDLGFGAPts
 Uruguay2200904
 Austria2200604
 Czechoslovakia2002070
 Scotland2002080
  • Uruguay finished ahead of Austria on drawing of lots
Uruguay 2–0 Czechoslovakia
Míguez Goal 71'
Schiaffino Goal 84'

Attendance: 20,500
Referee: Arthur Ellis (England)

Austria 1–0 Scotland
Probst Goal 33'
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Laurent Franken (Belgium)

Uruguay 7–0 Scotland
Borges Goal 17'47'57'
Míguez Goal 30'83'
Abbadie Goal 54'85'

Attendance: 34,000

Austria 5–0 Czechoslovakia
Stojaspal Goal 3'65'
Probst Goal 4'21'24'

Attendance: 26,000
Referee: Vasa Stefanovic (Yugoslavia)


TeamPldWDLGFGAGAvPts
 France32011171.574
 Yugoslavia3120761.174
 Paraguay31119120.753
 Scotland3012460.671
  • France finished ahead of Yugoslavia on goal average
France 7–3 Paraguay
Fontaine Goal 24'30'67'
Piantoni Goal 52'
Wisnieski Goal 61'
Kopa Goal 70'
Vincent Goal 83'

Amarilla Goal 20'44' (pen.)
Romero Goal 50'
Attendance: 16,518
Referee: Juan Gardeazábal Garay (Spain)
Yugoslavia 1–1 Scotland
Petaković Goal 6'
Murray Goal 49'
Attendance: 9,591
Referee: Raymond Wyssling (Switzerland)

Yugoslavia 3–2 France
Petaković Goal 16'
Veselinović Goal 63'88'

Fontaine Goal 4'85'
Attendance: 12,217
Paraguay 3–2 Scotland
Agüero Goal 4'
 Goal 45'
Parodi Goal 73'

Mudie Goal 24'
Collins Goal 74'
Attendance: 11,665

France 2–1 Scotland
Kopa Goal 22'
Fontaine Goal 44'

Baird Goal 58'
Attendance: 13,554
Referee: Juan Brozzi (Argentina)
Paraguay 3–3 Yugoslavia
Parodi Goal 20'
Agüero Goal 52'
Romero Goal 80'

Ognjanović Goal 18'
Veselinović Goal 21'
Rajkov Goal 73'
Attendance: 13,103
Referee: Martin Macko (Czechoslovakia)