Wednesday midfielder Bannan has insisted that Scotland’s World Cup hopes are not over despite a disappointing set of results.
Scotland midfielder Barry Bannan has insisted to The Star that the country’s hopes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup are not already over despite a disappointing start to their campaign.
Scotland fans have experienced misery when it comes to international tournaments for years now, having not reached the World Cup since 1998 or the Euros since 1996.
Their supporters are much more on the pessimistic side of things and that will continue to be the case following two more poor results over the course of the last week.
Bannan played a part in both of Scotland’s recent qualifiers, in which they could only manage a 1-1 draw with Lithuania followed by a disappointing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Slovakia.
However as reported by The Star, the midfielder is adamant that their hopes of qualification have not yet diminished.
“It’s not over, all the teams are closely matched in this group,” Bannan said. “England dropped points in Slovenia and we dropped points in Slovakia. It’s our fault, because we’re the ones who are out there losing games.
“We are disappointed at the moment. We’ll get ourselves back to our clubs and try to perform, then the next time we meet up we’ll try to look at where we went wrong on this trip. Every game in this group is going to be massive because the teams are so closely matched and it (England game) is a game we’ll look forward to, it’s the arch enemy.”
“Everybody’s disappointed, as you can imagine, but there’s only three points from us to England.”
Bannan has experienced something of a resurgence since moving to Yorkshire after he spent nine years with academy club Aston Villa.
He moved to Crystal Palace for two seasons in between, which did not do him much good, but the move to Wednesday eventually coincided with a return to form as well as a place in the PFA Team of the Year.
Whilst it was a poor set of results for Scotland, the 26-year-old needs to shift his attention back to his club side as Sheffield Wednesday try to get their play-off push back on track.
That mission starts on Sunday when they travel to John Smith’s Stadium to face table toppers Huddersfield Town.
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