IT is 21 years now since Scotland’s hopes of reaching the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal were ended by an ignominious 6-0 mauling at the hands of the Netherlands in Amsterdam.

Much has happened, a great deal of it positive, during that time. 

But any Tartan Army footsoldier who is old enough to remember the play-off second leg defeat – or, worse still, who had the distinct misfortune to be present in Johan Cruyff Arena when it happened – will still be a little on edge before the two countries meet at the same venue this evening.

The national team will be involved at the Euro 2024 finals in Germany in June regardless of the outcome of tonight’s friendly having just enjoyed one of the most successful, if not the most successful, qualifying campaigns in their entire history.  

Could, though, their preparations for the Group A opener against the tournament hosts in the Allianz Arena in Munich on June 14 suffer a setback if they slump to another heavy and humiliating loss at the hands of top class rivals?

Supporters of a certain age will, despite the rousing triumphs over Cyprus, Georgia, Norway and Spain which Andy Robertson and his team mates have recorded in the past 12 months, be apprehensive as their heroes take to the field at the scene of one of their most infamous losses.

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Steve Clarke, who has lost centre backs Grant Hanley and Scott McKenna due to injuries, is keen to use the four friendlies which the country has before flying out to Germany to build up much-needed momentum after three defeats and two draws.

Scotland last went six games without winning way back in 2008. The calibre of opposition they have faced of late – they lost to England, Spain and then France – has much to do with that disappointing run. Still, Clarke is keen to end it with less than three months to go until the Euros.

“It would be nice,” he said. “It’s obviously not crucial because it’s a competitive friendly. But we don’t like the fact it is five games since we had a win. We think we are better than that. We want to get wins on the board as quick as we can and tomorrow night would be a good time to start.

The Herald: “Spain away in my opinion was a decent performance. We played okay. We were not so good against England, a little bit disappointing. France was a strange game in that we gave away three goal from set plays.

“But with the ball, in terms of passing, it was probably as well as we have played against a Pot One team. We got punished heavily, especially on counter attacks. So there were good lessons from that game.

“The two games which disappointed me the most were the two draws at the end of the qualifying campaign because if we want to get to where we want to get to you have to look to go to Georgia and win and you have to beat Norway at home having beaten them away.

“If you look at the first five competitive games last year we scored 12 goals, conceded one and won five games. In the second five games we scored seven and conceded 14. You don’t win many games if you concede 14 goals. So, something to work on.

“You always have to be responsible for your own standards. That’s why the two competitive games irked me a little bit more than losing the friendly matches against England and France.

“It would have been nice to finish with a good points total in the group even though we couldn’t finish top it would have been nice to finish on the same points as the Spanish.

“Obviously we don’t want to go any longer without winning matches so tomorrow night would be a good time to start winning. Tough game, don’t get me wrong. We know it’s another one of the better European nations that we are playing against.

“But hopefully we can show that we have learned a little bit from the games against France, England and Spain and we can be really competitive here and get that win. If we don’t get it here then we will try to get it on Tuesday.”

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Clarke certainly feels the encounter with Ronald Koemann’s team will be a good preparation for the Euro 2024 finals for his side.

“They are top opponents who are comfortable on the ball and who will move the ball,” he said. So you have to defend well and you have to work well. Similar to what we might face in the summer. 

The Herald: “When you get to the tournament against good teams like Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, three teams who manipulate the ball well, you know you will have periods without the ball.

“You are looking at it and thinking, ‘Listen guys if we want to be competitive and get out of the group stages which obviously we want to do then these are the games that we have to improve in’.

“We have to understand that if the little details are not quite right in these games you get punished heavily for them. Maybe in other games against so called lesser opposition you don’t get punished so heavily for small mistakes.  The challenge is to eliminate the small mistakes and make sure that we play as well as we can.” 

This is not the first time that Scotland have played at the Johan Cruyff Arena since 2003 – they lost a World Cup qualifier 3-0 at the futuristic 55,885 capacity stadium back in 2009.

That reverse was followed by the sorry “Boozegate” controversy which ended the international career of then captain Barry Ferguson.

It is to be hoped the national team’s manager, coaching staff, players and fans are toasting a morale-boosting result this evening and do not require a stiff drink to settle their nerves after another hammering.