TEMPERATURES and expectations were rising steeply as May petered out 30 years ago. World Cup fever was upon us, and the nation was looking forward with mounting self-confidence to the Scotland team's first match, against Peru on Saturday 3 June.
With Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Joe Jordan and Martin Buchan among its star names, this was one of the finest Scotland teams in living memory. What is more, Ally MacLeod's team appeared to have luck on their side, as they were drawn to play Iran in their second match, four days after the Peru game. By the time we played the Netherlands, both teams could already have qualified from the group.
Click here to watch highlights of Peru vs ScotlandPeru were past their best. Eight years earlier they had reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but their most acclaimed players, such as Teófilo Cubillas, were veterans. No, make that old men. They would wilt in the heat, surely. On that misguided basis, MacLeod had not had them watched.
This irrational mood of inflated confidence, so different from the self-doubt which had for long enough been the default setting of Scotland's sporting psyche, had been stoked up by MacLeod. The manager had talked of going to Argentina and coming back with a medal – "hopefully gold".
In the Home Internationals, though, Scotland, the only team from these islands to qualify for Argentina, finished third after drawing twice then losing at home to England. If there were warning signs, they went unheeded.
James Naughtie, now of Radio Four but then on our staff, wrote of the squad's heroic Hampden farewell to those fans who would be unable to make the long journey to South America. 'Argentina here we come' was the headline on Naughtie's report, which talked of an "ecstatic Hampden send-off in which the players paraded in front of a 20,000 crowd". The feeling that this was a lap of honour before a ball had been kicked was strengthened by a banner on the old terraces. "Argentina: We Came, We Saw, We Conquered".
With two days to go before the big game, we reported that "giant" television screens "measuring six feet by four feet" were selling by the hundreds as workplaces and entertainment venues got ready. The cost of £3,500 was no deterrent. The country had bought into this dream together, and we were going to watch it become reality together.
Sager voices did utter the odd word of caution, but they tended to be lost among the babble. In The Scotsman's four-page, black-and-white, non-singing, non-dancing World Cup supplement, for example, Ian Wood, then our sports editor, listed Peru's Juan Carlos Oblitas among his "12 to watch" at the tournament. And on the morning of the match, Mike Aitken reminded our readers that Scotland did have a tradition of not doing well at World Cups, with just a single victory in the finals to our name, and contrasted that with "the commercialised euphoria of the past six months".
The whole of Britain was behind us, or at least it was according to a telegram sent to MacLeod by the Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher, who was then less than a year away from becoming Prime Minister. "Everyone in the UK is rooting for Scotland as they start their bid to bring home the World Cup," the celebrated lover of all things Caledonian wrote. "I wish them the luck to go with their undoubted ability and determination".
The day itself dragged on forever. Kick-off in Cordoba was not until 8.45pm UK time – how could we kill all that time? But kill it we did, and eventually kick-off rolled around. For most of the first half we held reality at bay. Scotland were not playing well, but Joe Jordan gave us the lead after quarter of an hour.
Even when Cesar Cueto equalised just before half-time, we knew the team could get the show back on the road. And perhaps they would have done so had Don Masson scored with a penalty after an hour, but instead his spot-kick was easily saved. Galvanised by the let-off, Peru took charge of the game, and claimed the points with two late goals from Cubillas.
That result spelled an instant end to Scotland's romantic era. The ignominy with which the team crashed back to earth was compounded by the subsequent banning of Willie Johnston for taking a prohibited substance before the match.
Four days later we drew with Iran, and MacLeod was shown squirming on the bench, tearing out what remained of his hair. Victory in the final match against the Netherlands was not enough, and the early plane home beckoned.
And what of Peru? They qualified from the group along with the Netherlands, but in the second group section they became the fall guys for their larger South American neighbours. They lost 4-0 to Brazil, then faced Argentina. The host nation needed to win by five goals to progress, and lo and behold they did, winning 6-0 en route to the final, where they beat the Netherlands 3-1.
Thirty years later, the very mention of Peru or Cubillas sends a shiver down the spine of Scotland fans of a certain age. If we thought back then that life would never be the same again, we were right.
Peruvians still bask in glory gamePERU'S resounding victory over hapless Scotland was greeted with euphoria across the Andean nation.
Javier Diaz, 72, who watched the game on TV at home in Peru, remembers the tie fondly and the boost the 3-1 result gave the entire nation.
"For Peru to win against a European team was something special," he said. "To have even been there in the World Cup was enough, but to then go and win by 3-1 against a big opponent like that was something tremendous. If it was the United States or England or France it would be the same.
"I remember watching the game on the TV at home. I remember we were being beat 1-0, but Teófilo Cubillas, who was a great player, scored two goals in the second half and we won."
Peru had been virtually written off in Scotland, though Diaz said people at home always fancied a glorious triumph as the country produced perhaps its most successful ever crop of players. "I think we probably did expect to win even if no-one else did, but 3-1, well, that was incredible," he recalled.
"People were celebrating in the streets. The psychological boost for the nation as well was beyond words.
"We have not been to another World Cup since then, so you can see how far we've fallen. In 1980 we had a military junta, and then Fujimori, and that destroyed everything socially and economically and of course to sport.
"We are now recuperating and have some good players in Europe, but that result is still a landmark even though we were eventually eliminated as well.
"Hopefully we can go on and get to another World Cup to add to the two times in the 1930s we got there, Mexico in 1970 and of course in Argentina in 1978 when we won against Scotland."
Bryan KayThe full article contains 1234 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
