EURO 2020
Modric has set the standard for outstanding individual talent
AP
Population features prominently in post mortems of Scotland’s international football performances. How can a nation of five million people be expected to compete with, for example, neighbours England, who have ten times that number? Sometimes, as on Friday night, it suits Scotland to play the plucky underdogs punching above their weight.
Yet it’s not a part they can play on Tuesday in their final group game. Croatia pick from a population of four million people and yet made it to the World Cup final three years ago. Their semi-final win over England went down well in Scotland but was far from the only scalp they claimed against the odds. In the group stage, they took maximum points from a section that included Argentina, with apopulation of over 40m, and Nigeria, where it’s estimated at 211m. In the quarter-final, they overcame hosts Russia, who have over 145m people.
So Croatia represent an obstacle to overcome but also a standard to strive for as Scotland seek to make it to the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time. Closer to home, Wales made light of a 3m population compared to Turkey’s 82m as they comprehensively outplayed them last week. Small nations can prosper, provided they can effectively nurture outstanding individual talents like Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, both currently of Real Madrid.
Scotland have some decent players yet none who can claim to be as technically gifted as Croatia’s captain and playmaker, named man of the match in the 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic, or Bale, who shrugged off missing a penalty to superbly set up Wales’s second goal in the win over Turkey. John McGinn, Scott McTominay, Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney are all leading players in the English Premier League, yet have not been singled out as the special game-changing talents of the two Spanish club’s giants.
That’s the next challenge for coaches at all levels in Scotland: to produce the transformative performers who push a team beyond where its population suggests it should sit in football’s hierarchy. Perhaps Billy Gilmour, who played with such maturity on his first start for Scotland, can be that star. There are more than a few hints of Modric about Chelsea’s tyro, but he still has plenty to prove, too.
It certainly helps Croatia’s coaches that they have more sunny days per year than any other European nation to work with and that the Balkans has always churned out talented players in ball sports across the board, especially basketball, football, tennis and water polo. Their genes bless a small population with the height, broad shoulders and slim hips of natural athletes. Yet they also make the most of these advantages with a coaching programme that produces more professional-standard players per capita than any other country in Europe.
Chris Docherty, a Scot who worked as an analyst for Hajduk Split last season, has studied Croatian football closely and helped develop their current coaching curriculum. He notes a greater desire in Croatian youngsters than he previously saw when coaching in Scotland.
Gilmour impressed against England but has a long way to go to match Modric
IAN MACNICOL/GETTY
“They still have a bigger hunger towards football,” he said. “The economy is worse than ours, the parents are pushing the kids so hard, to the point where they take them out of school. Players will come to the academy, then hire a private coach, do too much training and get injured. They’re all about doing more and the teaching focus is very much on the individual player.”
Later a balance is struck between instilling a team ethic and responsibility without curbing the creative independence which saw Croatia seize control of that semi-final against England after falling behind to Kieran Trippier’s free-kick. “They are very good at managing the players,” added Docherty. “Of course they have tactics, structure, analysis and everything else, but one part of the Croatian culture is they are very creative people. They tend to not really like process and strict rules, so when the players come from the street to the academies they are, by definition, individuals, creative players.
“Science has shown that creativity kind of develops before the age of 12. What the structured system tries to do is mould those young talents into effective team players, who can make decisions on their own. The success of the national team was that the individual qualities of the players was balanced with a fantastic management of the culture and atmosphere of the group and leadership. You had the spirit of never-say-die, which they have in the Balkans, real aggression and passion for the game, plus individual qualities and technique.”
Perhaps Scotland’s system turns youngsters into team players too soon before they have developed properly as creators as technicians. An argument for less rather than more coaching sessions would be a difficult one to win these days, when many youngsters rarely spend quality time alone with a ball between them.
Yet perhaps replicating the sort of street football than produced Jim Baxter and Jimmy Johnstone before harnessing such maverick talents to the greater good is still possible somehow. Scotland can beat Croatia on Tuesday, but they should also learn from them regardless of the result.
Croatia represent an obstacle to overcome but also an example to follow for Scotland
Modric has set the standard for outstanding individual talent
AP
Population features prominently in post mortems of Scotland’s international football performances. How can a nation of five million people be expected to compete with, for example, neighbours England, who have ten times that number? Sometimes, as on Friday night, it suits Scotland to play the plucky underdogs punching above their weight.
Yet it’s not a part they can play on Tuesday in their final group game. Croatia pick from a population of four million people and yet made it to the World Cup final three years ago. Their semi-final win over England went down well in Scotland but was far from the only scalp they claimed against the odds. In the group stage, they took maximum points from a section that included Argentina, with apopulation of over 40m, and Nigeria, where it’s estimated at 211m. In the quarter-final, they overcame hosts Russia, who have over 145m people.
So Croatia represent an obstacle to overcome but also a standard to strive for as Scotland seek to make it to the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time. Closer to home, Wales made light of a 3m population compared to Turkey’s 82m as they comprehensively outplayed them last week. Small nations can prosper, provided they can effectively nurture outstanding individual talents like Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, both currently of Real Madrid.
Scotland have some decent players yet none who can claim to be as technically gifted as Croatia’s captain and playmaker, named man of the match in the 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic, or Bale, who shrugged off missing a penalty to superbly set up Wales’s second goal in the win over Turkey. John McGinn, Scott McTominay, Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney are all leading players in the English Premier League, yet have not been singled out as the special game-changing talents of the two Spanish club’s giants.
That’s the next challenge for coaches at all levels in Scotland: to produce the transformative performers who push a team beyond where its population suggests it should sit in football’s hierarchy. Perhaps Billy Gilmour, who played with such maturity on his first start for Scotland, can be that star. There are more than a few hints of Modric about Chelsea’s tyro, but he still has plenty to prove, too.
It certainly helps Croatia’s coaches that they have more sunny days per year than any other European nation to work with and that the Balkans has always churned out talented players in ball sports across the board, especially basketball, football, tennis and water polo. Their genes bless a small population with the height, broad shoulders and slim hips of natural athletes. Yet they also make the most of these advantages with a coaching programme that produces more professional-standard players per capita than any other country in Europe.
Chris Docherty, a Scot who worked as an analyst for Hajduk Split last season, has studied Croatian football closely and helped develop their current coaching curriculum. He notes a greater desire in Croatian youngsters than he previously saw when coaching in Scotland.
Gilmour impressed against England but has a long way to go to match Modric
IAN MACNICOL/GETTY
“They still have a bigger hunger towards football,” he said. “The economy is worse than ours, the parents are pushing the kids so hard, to the point where they take them out of school. Players will come to the academy, then hire a private coach, do too much training and get injured. They’re all about doing more and the teaching focus is very much on the individual player.”
Later a balance is struck between instilling a team ethic and responsibility without curbing the creative independence which saw Croatia seize control of that semi-final against England after falling behind to Kieran Trippier’s free-kick. “They are very good at managing the players,” added Docherty. “Of course they have tactics, structure, analysis and everything else, but one part of the Croatian culture is they are very creative people. They tend to not really like process and strict rules, so when the players come from the street to the academies they are, by definition, individuals, creative players.
“Science has shown that creativity kind of develops before the age of 12. What the structured system tries to do is mould those young talents into effective team players, who can make decisions on their own. The success of the national team was that the individual qualities of the players was balanced with a fantastic management of the culture and atmosphere of the group and leadership. You had the spirit of never-say-die, which they have in the Balkans, real aggression and passion for the game, plus individual qualities and technique.”
Perhaps Scotland’s system turns youngsters into team players too soon before they have developed properly as creators as technicians. An argument for less rather than more coaching sessions would be a difficult one to win these days, when many youngsters rarely spend quality time alone with a ball between them.
Yet perhaps replicating the sort of street football than produced Jim Baxter and Jimmy Johnstone before harnessing such maverick talents to the greater good is still possible somehow. Scotland can beat Croatia on Tuesday, but they should also learn from them regardless of the result.
