I've Caught The Scotland National Team Bug Again

As I watched Scotland defeat Macedonia 2-1 on Tuesday night, a strange feeling came over me. I was suddenly nervous about winning the game and getting three points, despite Scotland's World Cup qualification chances having long since ended. I cared about the Scotland national team again.

Since Scotland agonisingly lost 2-1 to Italy in an attempt to qualify for Euro 2008, in November 2007 I have really struggled to conjure up much interest in caring about how Scotland did as a footballing nation. That's how much enthusiasm was drained from me during the reigns of both George Burley and Craig Levein.

Sure there were moments over those years where I celebrated with every Scotland fan like beating Iceland twice under Burley or drawing level with Spain under Levein at Hampden. However, by the end of each of the aforementioned bosses I had given up and very much become a club focused man.

And this was tinged with sadness. Growing up I had always struck a balance between my club (Rangers) and my country. I remember as a young lad getting kitted out ready to watch Scotland kick off the 1998 World Cup against Brazil. I cheered beating England at Wembley, was delighted when we beat Holland and celebrated wildly those two brilliant wins over France.

But it wasn't just the fact that the reigns of Burley and Levein were bad. They were catastrophically demoralising for national morale and I can vividly remember when it came to breaking point in both their reigns. For Burley, it was the 4-0 hammering in Norway. I didn't even care that we beat Macedonia three weeks later after that result. For Levein, there were endless moments but the final, final straw was the 0-0 draw against Serbia at the start of this doomed World Cup 2014 qualifying group. It proved I was wrong to expect different from a new campaign with the same manager in charge.

However, let's stop that negativity right now because Scotland are slowly but surely progressing under Gordon Strachan. Three wins in seven games is hardly tremendous for Gordon Strachan's CV but the signs are there that Strachan has got Scotland doing the basics right again and that's what pleases me most. Managing Scotland isn't rocket science which is something Burley and Levein failed to realise which was so frustrating as a fan.

Strachan is slowly finding a system which suits the eleven players he puts on the park. We don't have top,top players. We have some good, perhaps some very good players in the shape of Steven Fletcher, James Morrison and Shaun Maloney but we're not going to do major damage to a lot of teams. However, Strachan knows that with a bit of spirit and easy instructions Scotland are a nation that can rise again on the international arena.

Hampden should be a fortress yet we've scored two goals there in this qualifying campaign. On Tuesday night, admittedly away from home, I saw a system in which the Scottish players understood each other and players from midfield were much more willing to help out the lone striker. On a dodgy pitch Scotland passed the ball well, looked organised and scored two cracking goals. That's the way it should be home and away although with winners coming preferably earlier than two minutes from time!

Now I'm not going to get carried away but away wins over Croatia and Macedonia as well as the performance against England at Wembley should be celebrated. I've said for years Scotland have decent players, particularly in midfield.

All we needed was a manager that was a winner that could inspire them to go above their usual standards. Strachan has shown that we can compete with big nations again and the win over Macedonia was a genuine sign of progress.

Hopefully there is more to come and dare I say it, I'm looking forward to the Croatia game at Hampden next month.

Djokovic V Nadal: Who Will Emerge Triumphant in New York?

Tomorrow night will see the world's two best male tennis players go head to head in the final of the US Open for the third time in four years.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic will take on Spain's Rafael Nadal in New York just like I predicted two weeks ago here: (http://www.ewansworldofsport.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/can-andy-murray-retain-his-us-open-crown.html) and it promises to be a sensational encounter once again. As you will see from the above blog, I tipped Djokovic to win the title two weeks ago and despite some doubts I'm going to stand by that statement.

There can be no doubting Rafael Nadal is in the better form and has had the easier route to the final. He is unbeaten on hard courts this season winning three Masters Titles in Indian Wells in March and Montreal and Cincinnati last month. 

Those latter two victories were all the more remarkable considering how many people had written him off (including to some extent me) after his defeat in the first round of Wimbledon to unheralded Belgian Steve Darcis.

Nadal has looked firmly back to his best on the courts of Flushing Meadows and has only dropped one set on his way to his third US Open final. In the quarter finals he thumped countryman Tommy Robredo (who had beaten Roger Federer in the previous round) for the loss of only four games before defeating Richard Gasquet with ease in last night's semi-final.

By contrast, Novak Djokovic was pushed to the limit yesterday by Andy Murray's conqueror Stanislas Wawrinka in his semi-final. After over four hours of play, Djokovic finally emerged the winner, 6-4 in the fifth set. You have to wonder how much that has taken out of the world number one, even if he has proved time and again he is a machine.

However, I think being tested like that is an advantage for Djokovic. Andy Murray can bare testament to this when he won Wimbledon in the summer. He may have put himself and millions of fans through the ringer in his quarter final against Fernando Verdasco when he had to come from two sets down to win, but this served him enormously in the long run.

And that's what Djokovic will be telling himself. He was far from his best yesterday and probably deserved to lose against Wawrinka, but he dug deep and is now in the final. He'll be brimming with confidence and keen to cement his position as World Number One over a rampant Nadal.

Another advantage Djokovic has in my eyes is his incredible level of consistency in Grand Slams. This is his third slam final of this year alone and fourth consecutive US Open final. Contrast that to Nadal, who thanks to injuries hasn't been to a slam final outwith his beloved French Open since that epic 2012 Australian Open final against Djokovic. That gives the Serbian the mental edge in my view, despite Nadal's 13 slam titles.

Furthermore, Djokovic will be spurred on by a couple of revenge factors. First of all, he'll want to regain the US Open crown he lost last year to Andy Murray in such dramatic fashion. He's loved the US Open since he arrived on the tennis world and this tournament was the first slam in which Djokovic reached the final of in 2007. 

He'll also want to avenge another dramatic defeat from the last 12 months and this time it occurred against Nadal in the semi-finals of this years French Open. In five gruelling sets, it was the Spaniard who won 9-7 in the decider after Djokovic had been a break-up. That was a sore one for Djokovic who was keen to complete a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros in June. 

And what about Nadal's knees? He might look fitter and sharper than ever, but as pointed out earlier, they haven't been giving a true test yet this fortnight in the Big Apple. Tests don't come much tougher than a best of five-set match against Djokovic and he'll be looking to put the Majorican under serious pressure from the word go. If it goes to another five hour match between the pair, then I've got to fancy Djokovic's chances.

I could easily have stated a case for Nadal winning tomorrow evening, but I fancy the World Number one from Serbia to win his seventh Grand Slam title and edge out Nadal in a five-set thriller.