Priceless moment but little value in Ritchie’s header

Thursday 1 September 2011

HE may have left Scotland far behind, but Paul Ritchie will never have felt a greater affinity to the national team.

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Chris Tait

The former Hearts and Manchester City defender has alighted at North America Soccer League club Carolina Railhawks -- where he works as assistant manager to fellow Scot Martin Rennie -- yet he has been able to stay abreast of Scotland’s endeavours in the Euro 2012 qualifiers on American sports channels and via the internet.

His interest will be peaked this weekend. Ritchie scored his solitary Scotland goal in a Euro 2000 qualifier against Czech Republic in Prague, a match Craig Brown’s side went on to lose despite taking a 2-0 lead.Given that it was his second cap, and his first competitive appearance having made his debut in a friendly with Germany, Ritchie was caught between a sense of pride and disappointment. He will hope such conflicting emotions do not resurface following the Czechs’ visit to Hampden this weekend.The towering figure of Jan Koller scored a late winner that night in Prague, one of many notable names no longer available for the Czechs. Ritchie had come up against players of the calibre of Pavel Nedved, Patrick Berger and Tomas Repka, whose goal cancelled out Allan Johnston’s strike. With Petr Cech out injured, the current crop may only recognise Tomas Rosicky.The last time Scotland faced the Czechs was in October of last year, another night which left supporters despondent in Prague. Craig Levein feels his side have progressed since then. The time to prove that will be on Saturday. Ritchie, who spent three years with Levein at Tynecastle, is confident Scotland can succeed.“I think Craig is doing a good job, although it’s taken him a while to implement the things he wants, but now I think we are getting a batch of players through that can take Scotland on to the next level,” said Ritchie, who went on to earn seven caps. “I think they’ve got a coach who got a bit of criticism to begin with when results didn’t go his way but he’s a man I have a lot of time for. I played with him, I travelled with him and his knowledge of the game is incredible.“I was fortunate enough to score, although we ended up getting beaten so from my point of view it was a bitter-sweet moment. It is a fantastic opportunity to represent your country -- it is something that I am very proud of.”Scotland reached the play-offs in 1999 after finishing second behind the Czechs, going out to England despite a rousing win at Wembley. With Spain likely to top the group, the play-offs are once again the extent of Scotland’s ambitions. Ritchie is positive but concedes the team is a work in progress.“If we make the play-offs, great, but it’s going to be difficult, especially with Spain, Czech Republic and Lithuania,” he said. “We’ve got to get that mentality and be realistic. Our main aim is to qualify for one of these tournaments; if it is 2012 great, if not it is 2014 or 2016 -- it is a long-term plan. Hopefully Craig gets time and the paying public realise that we have a good batch of kids at under-21 level who have the potential to go and play at the top level.”

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Priceless moment but little value in Ritchie’s header

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