Scotland’s group for Euro 96 qualification included Russia, Greece, Finland, Faroe Islands and San Marino. Scotland started off in emphatic fashion with a fine 2-0 victory away to Finland. The following month Scotland beat Faroe Islands comfortably and was in pole position in the group. Scotland’s toughest test of the group came at home to Russia, in a match which they drew 1-1. Scotland’s hope of qualification was dented as they lost 1-0 to Greece. However despite the mid stumble, Scotland won their final four group matches against Greece, Finland, San Marino and Faroe Islands respectively and they qualified for euro 96. Scotland’s Euro 96 campaign commenced with a decent 0-0 draw against Holland. Early on in the match Holland threatened to overwhelm the Scots and in the seventh minute, Goram made a great save from Seedorf. From the resulting corner, de Boer saw his shot handled on the goal line by John Collins, but fortunately the referee failed to see the incident. This seemed to motivate the Scots, as both McAllistar and Collins had opportunities well saved. Scotland threatened the most during the match and the Dutch midfield was ineffective. In the second half, Scotland created more opportunities when Spencer came on as a substitute for Booth, but in the absence of Ferguson they lacked a striker who was capable of causing the Dutch defence problems. McAllistar came close late on and in the end Scotland settled for a fine draw.
There next opponents were England which resulted in a 2-0 defeat, in a match which included a penalty missed by Gary McAllister.
Scotland played Switzerland in their final group match, Scotland dominated the early play and they should have been 2-0 up if McCosit would have converted two easy chances. In fact McCoist scored in the 37th minute. Scotland continued to create chances however they were unable to find the second goal, and 1-0 victory was not enough to progress them through to the second phase.
Scotland qualified for the 1998 world cup finals with relative ease, coming second in their group to Austria. Scotland featured in the world cup opener against Brazil, and John Collins scored in the opener, however Tommy Body scored an own goal with minutes remaining, which meant the score resulted in being 2-1. Their following match against Norway was nail biting. Dailey and McNamara came close early on for Scotland; however Tore Andre Flo scored just after half time. Burley equalized for Scotland mid way through the second period and the result ended 1-1. An embarrassing 3-0 defeat against Morocco once again ensured Scotland an early flight back home. Scotland came second in their qualifying group for Euro 2000 and faced England in a play off. Scotland lost the first leg at home 2-0; however they won at Wembley in the return leg 1-0 through a Don Hutchinson goal.