Scotland Under-21s Captain sets sights on qualification for the Euros for the first time since 1996

As David Marshall reached out to claw away Aleksandar Mitrović’s penalty and the nation erupted into scenes of euphoria, Scotland Under-21s captain, Ross McCrorie sat in the team hotel with his teammates and watched on inspired.

Having just led Scotland to a sensational comeback against Croatia earlier in the day, from 2-0 down, the Under-21s are now on the cusp of making their own history.

Steven Pressley, Jackie McNamara, Charlie Miller and Christian Dailly were some of the players involved for Scotland Under-21s the last time they were at a tournament, in 1996, across in Spain. Now though it’s Ross McCrorie and his teammates who are close to putting their names in the history books, not long after witnessing the senior squad do similar.



As things stand a win against Greece in Athens on Tuesday night will be enough to secure Scotland place at next year’s tournament in Hungary and Slovenia. The group stage takes place from 24 to 31 March 2021, with the group winners and runners-up advancing to the eight-team knockout phase from 31 May to 6 June 2021.

Reflecting on yesterday’s events Ross McCrorie said: “It was a brilliant day for the national teams. We had a tough match against Croatia ourselves and managed to get back into it after such a poor start. In the second half we dug ourselves out of a hole and were outstanding. We were disappointed not to go on and win.

“People would have written us off but we had that belief we could do the comeback as we’ve done that against them already in this campaign. Connor (McLennan) and Glenn (Middleton) both made the desired impact from the bench and that shows the strength of the squad we have here.



“After the match we watched the men’s game at our hotel on a big screen. It was absolutely amazing to see them win the game and now it’s up to us to do the same thing, on Tuesday. When Marshall made the save we were all jumping about the hotel, just delighted for the team and the country as a whole."

Ross McCrorie was only a few months old when Scotland last reached a major tournament and he wasn’t born when the 21s last took to the major stage but he hopes this latest triumph will inspire a nation.

He said: “When Serbia scored their goal I just thought it was going to be one of those nights that I’ve seen so often where we come up a bit short but the team were excellent and showed a lot of character. We’ve still not missed a penalty."

McCrorie is now using Steve Clarke’s side’s success as inspiration ahead of Tuesday night against Greece.



He said: “I think their qualification could be game changing for the country and now it’s up to the 21s to do the same. If we can do it, it would just go to show the quality that is coming through. We know what we need to do on Tuesday and it’s a huge game for us.

“A lot of the players, myself included, are in their last year of the 21s and there is a lot of guys in the squad who have played more than 100 times for our clubs. That just goes to show you the quality we have in our team as well as experience even though we’re still young.

“We’re all good mates and it would mean so much for us to qualify for the Euros next year.”