Dan Petrescu's former colleague is named Sir and proposed for sanctification! » First with three final tournament qualifiers

And Scotland made history, managing, like Norway and Austria, to return to the World Championship after a 28-year absence. E great credit to Steve Clarke for the sensational path in the preliminaries that ended with the win of group C, after the success story repeated even against the rivals in the first place, 4-2 with Denmark.

Performance for which the selector, with the third qualification for a final tournament (first in Scotland) and who will exceed seven years in charge of the national team in the summer, ticking off match number 75 on his debut as a coach at the World Cup, was proposed for the peerage in Great Britain. The Scottish Sun demands that he be named Sir or at least raised to the rank of Saint Stephen!

Two substitutes introduced by Clarke scored with Denmark!

Because the triumph at “Hampden Park” in Glagow belongs to him, beyond the sensational successes signed by McTominay, what a “scissors” he executed to open the score!, and McLean, lob from the center of the field.

The selector Steve Clarke has also qualified the Scottish national team for the last two EUROs, 2020 and 2024 / Photo: Imago

For his reading of the game and his highly inspired changes made: McLean replaced the injured Doak (21st minute) and Shankland replaced Christie (64), both getting on the scoresheet!

The coach told his players they would need 14 points to qualify, but they did so with 13. “The group made me a liar,” Clarke said. Who admitted it was the best feeling he ever had in football.

“It's an unforgettable day”, he added, qualifying for the World Cup compensating for not being selected for the two final tournaments as a player!

Clarke: “I'm having fun for 3 months. Get your visas, get your tickets!”

“For three months, I can just enjoy myself. It's going to be great and we're going to have a nice Christmas in the Clarke house, I promise!”, the Scotland international added.

Steve Clarke has 35 wins, 14 draws and 25 defeats as Scotland manager / Photo: Imago

Steve Clarke also had a final message for the “Tartan Army”, the famous gallery of the Scottish national team: “See you in the USA, Mexico or Canada. Get your visas, get your tickets! And the good part is that you have six months to prepare.

You don't have to wait until March to go to the play-offs. Then you will be able to watch some friendly matches. I'm looking forward to the tour in America. They should be proud of their players, they should be proud of their country.”

3trophies won by Steve Clarke as a player in 11 seasons at Chelsea: FA Cup and League Cup plus Cup Winners' Cup

Colleague with Dan Petrescu in the final won in the Cup of Cups

Steve Clarke began his coaching career in 1998 as an assistant at Newcastle and held similar roles at Chelsea, West Ham and Liverpool before becoming manager of West Bromwich Albion, Reading and Kilmarnock, with an intermezzo at Aston Villa as an assistant and interim manager.

Steve Clarke (second from left, top row) in the Chelsea team with Dan Petrescu (below, in front of him), who won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1997-1998 / Photo: Imago

Clarke took up coaching immediately after retiring from Chelsea in 1998. He did so in triumph, with the trophy won in the final with VfB Stuttgart in the Cup Winners' Cup (1-0). The former right defender, with 405 matches, 9 goals and 9 assists, played as a starter in a team led by the late Gianluca Vialli and in which he had Dan Petrescu as a colleague.

“Badger” was used in the match played in Stockholm as a right midfielder and did not catch the end on the field, as he received a straight red card in the 85th minute, for a violent foulfrom referee Stefano Braschi!