Soccer World Cup 1986 / Scotland

This article covers the Scottish national football team at the 1986 World Cup .

qualification

Group stage

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Spain	9: 8	8: 4
2	Scotland	8: 4	7: 5
3	Wales	7: 6	7: 5
4th	Iceland	4:10	2:10

Scotland	-	Iceland	3-0
Scotland	-	Spain	3: 1
Spain	-	Scotland	1-0
Scotland	-	Wales	0: 1
Iceland	-	Scotland	0: 1
Wales	-	Scotland	1: 1

UEFA OFC intercontinental playoff

Scotland	-	Australia	2-0
Australia	-	Scotland	0-0

After the team under the Scottish coach Jock Stein started the qualification with two wins, the defeats against Spain and Wales dampened hopes a little. So there was a three-way battle on the last day of qualification. While Spain, as expected, won their game against Iceland , a 1-1 draw was enough for Scotland to finish second. However, Jock Stein suffered a heart attack during the game and died shortly afterwards. Alex Ferguson was signed as the new coach . This led the team to the World Cup through the success against Australia .

Scottish contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Jim Leighton	Aberdeen FC	07/24/1958	3	0	0	0
12	Andy Goram	Oldham Athletic	04/13/1964	0	0	0	0
22nd	Bryan Gunn	Hibernian Edinburgh	12/22/1963	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Richard Gough	Dundee United	04/05/1962	1	0	0	0
3	Maurice Malpas	Dundee United	08/03/1962	2	0	1	0
5	Alex McLeish	Aberdeen FC	01/21/1959	1	0	0	0
6th	Willie Miller	Aberdeen FC	05/02/1955	3	0	0	0
13	Steve Nicol	Liverpool FC	December 11, 1961	3	0	1	0
14th	David Narey	Dundee United	06/12/1956	2	0	1	0
15th	Arthur Albiston	Manchester United	07/14/1957	1	0	0	0
midfield player
4th	Graeme Souness	Sampdoria Genoa	05/06/1953	2	0	0	0
7th	Gordon Strachan	Manchester United	02/09/1957	3	1	0	0
8th	Roy Aitken	Celtic Glasgow	11/24/1958	3	0	0	0
9	Eamonn Bannon	Dundee United	04/18/1958	2	0	1	0
10	Jim bed	Aberdeen FC	11/25/1959	0	0	0	0
11	Paul McStay	Celtic Glasgow	10/22/1964	1	0	0	0
16	Frank McAvennie	West Ham United	11/22/1959	2	0	0	0
striker
17th	Steve Archibald	FC Barcelona	09/27/1956	1	0	1	0
18th	Graeme Sharp	Everton FC	10/16/1960	1	0	0	0
19th	Charlie Nicholas	Arsenal FC	12/30/1961	2	0	0	0
20th	Paul Sturrock	Dundee United	10/10/1956	2	0	0	0
21st	Davie Cooper	Glasgow Rangers	02/25/1956	2	0	0	0
Trainer
	Alex Ferguson		December 31, 1941

Scottish team games

Preliminary round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Denmark	9: 1	6th
2	Germany	3: 4	3
3	Uruguay	2: 7	2
4th	Scotland	1: 3	1

• Scotland - Denmark 0: 1 (0: 0)

Stadium: Estadio Neza 86 ( Nezahualcóyotl )

Spectators: 18,000

Referee: Lajos Nemeth ( Hungary )

Goals: 0-1 Elkjær Larsen (57.)

• Germany - Scotland 2: 1 (1: 1)

Stadium: Estadio La Corregidora ( Santiago de Querétaro )

Spectators: 30,000

Referee: Ioan Igna ( Romania )

Goals: 0: 1 Strachan (18th), 1: 1 Völler (23rd), 2: 1 Allofs (49th)

• Uruguay - Scotland 0: 0 (0: 0)

Stadium: Estadio Neza 86 ( Nezahualcóyotl )

Spectators: 20,000

Referee: Joel Quiniou ( France )

Goals: none

After narrowly losing to both Denmark and Germany, the Scots still had a chance of reaching the round of 16 in the game against Uruguay . Although the Scottish team were in the majority for almost the entire game after being sent off against Uruguayan José Batista after just one minute, they only reached a 0-0 draw. Scotland were eliminated, Uruguay, however, continued without a win.

Coach Alex Ferguson resigned after the World Cup and went to Manchester United . He was succeeded by Andy Roxburgh , who looked after Scotland until 1993.