Scotland DO have the players for major tournaments as former Hampden hero warns latest Euros flop will sting for years

Kevin Gallacher still can’t shake the regret of Scotland’s World Cup group stage flop against Morocco - despite 26 years having passed since that shocker in Saint-Etienne.

And the Hampden Hall of Famer fears that same bitter feeling is set to consume Steve Clarke and his players for the next few months at least after the latest early exit from a major tournament left the nation with an all too familiar sickly sensation. Gallacher - a veteran of two Euros and that World Cup in France - believes this was our best chance ever to make history and qualify for a knockout stage.

He insists we DO have the players capable of taking the next step. But the former Dundee United, Blackburn and Newcastle striker reckons a combination of stage fright and an overly-cautious approach has left the squad with a head full of ‘what ifs’. Gallacher was in the squads that finished Euro 92 with a 3-0 win over CIS and Euro 96 with a 1-0 victory over Switzerland. Two results that ultimately weren't enough to reach the knockout stages but still left the players with a sense of pride.

He also started the final group game at the 1998 World Cup in France that ended in disaster and cost the Scots a place in the last 16. Ironically Sunday’s defeat to Hungary that saw Scotland bow out with a whimper fell on the 26th anniversary of that 3-0 Morocco mauling that also saw Tartan Army cheers turn to tears.

And speaking to Record Sport, Gallacher said: “There’s always regrets when you get knocked out at the group stage. I still hold regrets from 1998 and that game against Morocco. We took it too easy. We thought Morocco were going to be an easy side. But they weren’t and we got battered.

"You have to live with that regret, take it on the chin and move on. Sunday was different, I don't think they underestimated Hungary but they still never performed to the levels we know they are capable.

“I thought this was the best opportunity that we’ve had to get out a group stage. To qualify as a third placed side you just need to win one game. But it has proven that to win that one game is difficult.”

Former boss Gordon Strachan says a lack of match-winning superstars is the reason we’ve returned home early.But that doesn’t explain why we never laid a glove on Germany or Hungary and bowed out with a measly 17 attempts at goal across three games.

Gallacher said: “The players are better than what they showed. Unfortunately it was down time in a lot of our main men.

“You have Premier League players like Scott McTominay, John McGinn, Andy Robertson - we have quality players. Payers who I think we should have expected a lot more from. They have shown in the last few years they are a lot better than how they performed in Germany.

“You could put that down to a lot of things, maybe nerves. I think we were over-cautious. Steve is like that tactically. But it worked for us throughout the qualifying campaign against Spain and Norway.

“Sometimes players, especially in the Germany game, looked like they were tied down and didn’t understand what they were doing. Steve probably over-complicated the system and the players didn’t perform. We saw what they are capable of when they played freely against Spain in qualifying - that’s the way Scotland could have played.

“But we went a little more defensive, tried to counter-attack, and it didn’t quite work. When you’re playing against top nations and they are closing you down faster than you are receiving it then good players look average. That’s what happened to us.”

Sunday’s Stuttgart slugfest may have sounded the death knell for the campaign. But Gallacher reckons the tone was set in the opening night Munich mauling to the hosts.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side locked down our biggest threat on the left hand side and Gallacher reckons we paid the price for not being able to change our game plan. He said: “The way the team played against Germany set a trend and we had to try and pull ourselves back.

“We did that to an extent against Switzerland and went into the Hungary game where basically all the eggs were in one basket. We were thinking ‘this could be the one’. But for some reason it didn’t look like we wanted to attack them too much. That was the disappointment.

“When I look at the Germany game, the Swiss game and the homework they did on Scotland on the left side, they nullified us. That’s our most dangerous side. We couldn’t see the best of Tierney and Robertson because teams did a job on our left side. We have to have a secondary plan. It didn’t look like we had that.”

Clarke has been criticised for starting Che Adams as a lone striker in all three games with Lawrence Shankland given little over 20 minutes plus injury time off the bench and James Forrest not even getting a single second. Gallacher, who netted nine times in 53 appearances for Scotland, said: “Steve likes to be loyal and have a club-style set-up and Che Adams has been the one along with Lyndon Dykes to lead the line.

“It’s a shame he never gave Shankland or Forrest a bigger opportunity. It’s about having trust in those players and unfortunately it didn’t look like Steve wanted to go that far down the list.”

Despite that Gallacher is still convinced that Clarke is the best man for the job as attention turns to the World Cup. He said: “I still believe in Steve. He is a good manager who has got us to two Euros.

"Now we get ready for the World Cup. He will learn from mistakes. I know you’ve got to make luck but we had none of that either. How the referee never gave a penalty kick against Hungary… It’s a clear penalty and that could have changed the whole structure of the game.”