Where now for Scotland?

Scotland were awful against South Korea on Thursday

By Alasdair Lamont BBC Sport Online

Three games and three defeats for Berti Vogts' new Scotland regime.

That statistic makes sobering reading for any Scots still basking in the afterglow of hosting the Champions League final.

The latest defeat - a 4-1 reversal against World Cup outsiders South Korea - was perhaps the most humiliating for Vogts.

The 5-0 thrashing by France in his first game in charge was nothing if not expected, while the performance in the 2-1 defeat at home to Nigeria offered some hope for the future.

But in Busan against the World Cup co-hosts, Scotland were completely outclassed in every department.

Big players missing

Vogts admitted only two of his players - debutants Maurice Ross and Scott Dobie - came close to getting pass marks.

It now seems like a stroke of good fortune that the Scots failed to reach the World Cup finals.

But with time running out before the serious business of qualifying for Euro 2004 begins in September, Vogts will be more aware than ever that there is a dearth of real talent available to him.

The German can - and did - use the excuse that he was without at least six experienced players who would have been certain starters for the game against South Korea.

Berti Vogts was angry at the performance

The absence of the central midfield pairing of Barry Ferguson and Paul Lambert - Vogts' preferred partnership, which has so far been unavailable to him - was keenly felt, with Allan Johnston and Michael Stewart failing to impose themselves on the game.

Don Hutchison, Dominic Matteo, Neil McCann and Craig Burley could also reasonably expect to make a considerable difference to the team when fit.

So Vogts will persist with his plan of widening the net and bringing through raw talent such as Stewart, Dobie and Nottingham Forest's Gareth Williams.

He will hope that some of these youngsters can successfully blend with the more experienced players to create a winning team - eventually.

If he can unearth a few pearls from these experimental line-ups - already Maurice Ross, Kevin McNaughton and Stephen Crainey look comfortable making the step up to international football - they will have served their purpose.

Few Scottish supporters will remember these three defeats if Scotland are celebrating qualification for the European championships in Portugal in two years' time.