Most soccer fans will have seen by now Scotland debutant Chris Iwelumo's notorious miss against Norway in Glasgow Saturday, when the striker fluffed a chance from two yards out with nobody to beat six minutes after coming into the 0-0 game as a substitute. Suffering fans in the stadium were not spared either. Despite having seen the blunder live, they were subject to a repeated replay on the stadium's giant screen. (VIDEO)
"Whoever's in charge of the big screen showed Chris' miss about five times, which was nice of them," said Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon. "The fans didn't need to see that again and I'm sure we didn't. Everybody looked up at the big screen and saw it on a number of occasions. He knew he should have scored. Possibly if he was a yard further out then it would have been an easier finish. But it got caught between his feet and he wasn't able to divert it on target."
But Iwelumo, 30, was sanguine about the miss. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about," he said. "I am a striker. I like to score goals, but missed a chance. I can't say more than that. I'll go away, look at it, analyze it, come back and show you I can score goals. In hindsight, I should have swung my left foot at it. On another day, it's in the net and another story."
Another side-effect of Iwelumo's substitution was the withdrawal of Rangers' striker Kris Boyd from the Scotland team. Boyd, 25, has played only 28 minutes for Scotland since manager George Burley took over six games ago, and was left on the bench during Saturday's game, despite Scotland's impotence in front of goal. "I will not be playing for George Burley again," Boyd told reporters, "but I hope to be back in a Scotland jersey again one day."