With Nigeria having already beaten Mexico 3-1 the day before, it was vital that we got off to a winning start. Yet even though Scotland were ranked 8th in the world, ahead of the likes of Spain, Portugal, Uruguay and the unlikely scenario of the Germans being ranked 21st, there were people in the media who didn't believe we could beat Northern Ireland. And I had really hoped Gerry McNee would be dead by now.
Two minutes into the match, Stephen Dobbie fired us ahead and the critics were at the very least muffled. How anyone could actually critize this current Scotland side was beyond me, but I suppose some people are never happy. The Northern Irish though had built a decent side of their own, their qualifying record had shown that at least and so they certainly weren't about to lie down and let us win. It took until eight minutes into the second half before Ross McCormack added a second and the points were ours.
One down, two to go and a win over Mexico would be enough to see us through after Northern Ireland had earlier gone down 2-0 to the impressive Nigerians. Mexico though were ranked just behind us, and are always a dangerous side to face. On the day we simply didn't live up to our previous performances, and a 13th minute strike by some Mexican was enough to give them a vital win and left us needing to beat the Nigerians to go through.
A draw might be enough, if Mexico didn't beat Northern Ireland but we couldn't rely on that. With Nigeria not actually guaranteed qualification - theoretically we could both finish above them as FIFA seemed not to want to rely on head to head. Once again, we were to get what seemed to be an almost customary early goal as John Burns relished his first appearance at the tournament with a fine strike to bag his first ever Scotland goal after just six minutes. Three minutes later, Nigeria rather mysteriously won a penalty, but Craig Gordon was up to the task and easily saved Obafemi Martins rather poor strike. With no scoring at half time between Mexico and Northern Ireland, both ourselves and Nigeria had done enough to go through. Of course there was still another 45 minutes to go, during which the Mexicans scored twice without reply and left poor Northern Ireland without a point.
That result meant - although of course we didn't know it until the end of our game - that we had to win, and on 66 minutes John Burns showed that has started to mature into the player I suspected he might become as he added a second and it was literally a case of Argentina here we come - we would face the Argies if we won the group. A Barry Ferguson goal nine minutes from time ensured that we did indeed win the group, and would face Argentina in the knockout round. Nigeria also managed to squeeze through and would play Germany.
Like all World Cups, there had been the odd shock result. Ghana had held Brazil to a draw in their opening game, and then Saudi Arabia overcame Bulgaria 2-0, although that was probably not the shock it once would have been. Later on the same day England got their campaign underway but could only draw 1-1 with the Cote de'Ivoire. Shocking. England though weren't the only big European nation to suffer humiliation as Spain went down 1-0 to Iran. Englands World Cup though was not to get any better as they proceeded to crash 2-1 to Bulgaria and could then only draw 0-0 with Saudi Arabia and were soon on the plane home, left wondering what might have been if they could only actually play the damn game.
Spain would also be on the early plane home as they could only draw with Angola after losing to the Czech Republic and once more all that promise was wasted. And so we came face to face with Argentina, who had struggled in their previous game to a 1-1 draw with Mali. Even so, the Argies are never easy to beat, and especially with the match being in their own territory so to speak, they would have a distinct advantage and if we could win this we could certainly consider ourselves in with a shout of winning the whole thing.
And indeed, with 29 minutes gone John Burns completed a great move to send us ahead, a fine reward for our great early play. As the match wore on, Argentina started to come more and more into it and three minutes from the break Carlos Tevez levelled things and thats how it stood at the interval. Indeed, it was Carlos Tevez name that would be engraved on the hearts of all Scots around the world, as two second half goals completed his hattrick and it was our turn to board the plane and head back to Scotland, our dreams once more left lying somewhere in the gutter.
Argentina themselves would soon be joining us, as they were humiliated 4-0 by Brazil in the last eight and it was Brazil who would win the whole thing once more, with a 3-0 triumph over Paraguay in the Final. Stephen Dobbie lifted Scotland spirits a little bit as he followed in the footsteps of Archie Gemmell, his goal against Northern Ireland being voted goal of the tournament.
The day after we arrived back in Glasgow, I handed in my resignation and pondered what to do. I wished I could do something different for a while and when I woke up the next day I realised I was back in my old bedroom living my old life. I asked myself what the hell was going on, when suddenly my genie appeared from nowhere.
'Erm I kinda made a mistake' he told me 'You should have got three wishes, and so now you have one more left.'
'One more left? Surely you mean two more and lets face it mate I should have compensation!'
'I'm afraid those are the rules. You're first wish was completed, you then wished for something different. Well I think you'll find this life very different.'
'Yes, but this is my original life you moron!'
'Exactly' the Genie smiled at me.
'Oh fux sake, I wish you would bugger off and never come back!'
And with a poof, he was gone. Forever.
Damn.
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