Scotland: Stein, Narey, Brazil & being a cartoon character

Scotland's squad for the World Cup in 1982 was the most international of all time.

There were 10 European Cup winners medals from the previous five years. They had two European Cups, two more Uefa Cups, four Cup Winners' Cup winners and five more Super Cups within the next two years.

Throw in 63 domestic honours, 503 caps, and a legendary European Cup-winning manager in Jock Stein, and you have a pretty good picture.

BA Robertson's paean to hope 'We have a Dream' trumped the blind faith of Ally's Army four years previous was based on the idea that tartan talent only adds up to the sum of its parts.

They were at their time. Scotland has won the World Cup three times. Don't let it go.

Something could go wrong in Spain.

The build-up

John Wark thinks it's the best squad he's ever taken to a finals.

JockStein walked into the room and commanded the respect of the players who had won everything in the game. I think that was our chance today.

I spoke to Jock to make sure I was still part of the Scotland scene at Milan after I left Man United.

He was trying to get me fit to go to Spain so I thought he was trying to get me injured. I got my chance in the third game.

Being away in those days was hard. We received a phone call from the SFA. There was no internet, no social media, and Willie Miller was the only one who wanted to sleep.

The harling on the inside of the room was the first thing I had ever seen. Jock used to berate me when he saw me outside because he thought the sun would kill the ginger guy.

The Hope

There is a festival in Sevilla on 15 June. Scotland lost to New Zealand 5 to 2.

When you score five, you think you did well. We beat the minnows.

I was annoyed because I had a chance to score a hat-trick and I missed it.

They came back to haunt you after we gave them two goals for nothing. Two balls over the top, the first one Danny McGrain and the second one Allan Evans.

It's easy in retrospect but I felt it at the time on the bench. You don't give these goals away if you are being professional. It was a mistake. I felt like it could bite us. That is the result of experience.

In 1974 we never scored enough goals. It cost us. The same thing happened.

The Reality Check

In June, Sevilla. Scotland lost to Brazil by a score of 1-4.

The Brazil team did not win the World Cup.

It wasn't helped by the heat. The sweat was lashing off us as we stood for the anthem. There was no drop on my forehead.

The pitch was a problem because it was so long and we didn't know what to wear. It wasn't as much about moving the ball quickly as it is now, there was a lot of physical engagement.

We did not see the ball when they got going.

Scotland took the lead through Dave Narey, Wark said. When I was playing on the right, we had so many good center mids that I never got to play in my best spot, so I headed it down for the famous goal of Narey.

He had no idea what to do. He ran around like a little boy who didn't know what day it was.

Is that the last thing you'll do? It was a learning experience.

They were good, but what you don't know is their strength and height was amazing. They were all 6 feet 3in.

I think I'm strong, and I'm going to try and knock Junior over when I take the ball off him. I crumpled when I went down.

They're the best team never to have won a world cup. The best team I ever played was probably the one with Serginho, but he wasn't that good. There's a Scotland number seven shirt in a loft in Sao Paolo because I swapped strips with him.

Wark said their goals were great. I was the end man in the wall at Zico's and Roughie gave it a big thumbs up. It's around me and in the top corner. Two keepers were unable to stop it.

Kenny tried to get his shirt at the end of the game. Big Hansen tried to get it as well, but it was the closest he could get to him.

"Zico came over to me instead of ignoring them, even though he knew they wouldn't like him." He asked if he could swap. When I got back into the dressing room, I waved the number 10 in his face. It made a lot of money at an auction, and I gave it away to a charity.

(The Iron) Curtains

In Malaga on June 22nd. Scotland and the USSR played out a 2-2 draw.

It was Jordan's first start and he got the goal he needed. The centre-half made a mistake and I had 35 yards to go. Although I didn't like having that much time to think, the keeper left me just enough room at the near post and I had a decent turn of pace for a 30-year-old.

Wark remembered how much we battered them after watching the game a few weeks ago. We were able to win three games against them because we just had to win.

We lost the goals. Man...

The first one is terrible, we have about four defenders around it, but Chivadze sclaffs it off the ground and it bounces up and over Roughie.

You can't stop shouting at the telly when you watch the Miller and Hansen mix-up, even knowing when it will happen.

It's a footballer's life, all the great things you do and you get talked about for the one mistake. If he hadn't single-handedly won the European Cup for the Reds, he'd be remembered for his slip against the Blues.

The goals we lost were difficult to take. When you get to that level, and you're playing the best, you should still make them work for it.

These were not very high priced.

It was a cracker of a goal to pull us level again, but it almost made it feel worse.

Scottish football was in a great place at the time. The quality in our own top division was the best ever when there were four teams going at it.

The English based players were the best. The two best teams in England had six of them.

We should have qualified for the next stage, but we didn't. It's over.