On the morning of the game its raining, cloudy and there is very little sign of it brightening up. It looks like the game is set to be played in a miserable conditions come 3pm and bonfire lighting time, that is kick off.  Weather patterns seldom change quickly in a predominately wet city like Glasgow. and today will be now different.  The day that Glasgow sees four seasons in one day will be the day that Scotland actually win the FIFA World Cup.  Like most things in its environs its a city of extremes; it either rains or it pours.  Today it was a mixture of both but still, at least everybody attending would feel at home.

Despite the fact that the kick off for the match is still 4 hours away, there are Scotland fans everywhere in Glasgow city centre as people arrive from all corners of the country and start the search for friends and the obligatory meeting points for the day ahead. There is no alcohol allowed on trains and even the government are trying to clamp down on cheap alcohol being sold in bars and shops. If a day at a Scotland football match is to be believed though the clampdown is clearly not working.  Come 2pm people are very drunk, spilling out onto the streets from bars and near Hampden Park it's a mass convergence of overly loud men in tartan dress heading straight for the ground.  A foreigner looking on in Glasgow on the day could be forgiven for thinking that its Glasgow's attempt at Tartan day, an event held once a year in New York. As a middle aged man plays bagpipes outside a bar in the South side in the city, you could also easily think its Celtic Connections (ayearly event held each January) all over again.  Instead what it has been tagged by one well known historian is the 'Highland Mush'; the creation of an embarressing OTT Scottishness.   We here at voicesinfootball call it the distortion of Scotland; the cult of comical tartanry.

As people parade around drunkenly in ill-fitting kilts; tartan strewn attire and militaristic hats topped with a pheasant feathers it could also be a medieval festival in Glasgow, and come 2.15pm that is exactly what the event resembles. Scotland games for some are just that, a medieval folk festival; comical tartanry and a chance to drink excessive amounts of beer, play drums, blow bagpipes, eat meat pies, sing silly songs and show off your private parts to passing guests. The word comedy springs to mind but this is 2009, so lets be kind. The game it would seem for these people is a mere side show to the frivolous drunken revalry.  We have had the normans, the vikings when Iceland played, the  romans and here at Hampden Park we have the neanderthals.   

With two games to go in the March towards South Africa 2010, Scotland's national team at 3pm played Macedonia in a qualification match at the historic Hampden Park in Glasgow. Not three weeks previously the team had been battered senseless in a group match in the Norwegian capital of Olso by 4-0 by a fading yet reorganised Norwegian side. To paraphrase a famous Norwegian commentator Bjørge Lillelien, "William Wallace, Rob Roy McGregor, Gordon Brown can you hear me?.....your boys took a hell of a beating."   Yet incredibly, with only one game left of the campaign against Holland, the Scottish team still have a chance of qualifying for a play off match against a fellow runner up for next years finals in South Africa.

Macedonia itself is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia; a federation from which it declared independence in 1991. Perhaps the most famous Macedonian player of all time is Darko Pancev a man most famous for being the attacking spearhead of the famous Red Star Belgrade side of the early 1990's. Alongside Savicevic and Stojkovic, Darko Pancev pushred Red Star to European Cup success in 1991 in that infamous final in Bari against Marseille. In 2003 he was named as the country's best ever player. Today, the best player the country has produced is Goran Pandev, a left footed striker who plays for Lazio in Serie A. In 2009, Pandev was awarded the Medal for Service to the Country by the then president of the Macedonian Republic in acknowledgement of his sporting achievements and his contribution to developing and popularizing sport in Macedonia as well as promoting the country abroad.

As the teams appear come kick off time, fireworks go off on the pitch and the Macedonian fans sing along to the national anthem Denes nad Makedonija / Today Over Macedonia. A singer them emerges from the dugout area and blasts out Flower of Scotland. The men from the Balkans begin quite well causing the high Scotland defensive line problems with swift, intricate passing mainly through Lazio  eagle Goran Pandev. Early chances go the way of the Macedonians and its small group of 200 fans in the West Stand seem hopeful of a result. Pandev on 11 minutes forces Scottish goalkeeper Craig Gordon of Sunderland to get down smartly and block at his near post.

The hosts' first glimpse of goal came on 19 minutes when the ball broke to Brown on the edge of a crowded penalty area but the Celtic midfielder drove his shot wide. For Scotland the half ended with James McFadden the star striker getting a yellow card from German referee Wolfgang Stark which would mean he would miss the following midweek game against Holland.

The second half started at an exceptional pace with Scotland looking a very changed team tactically. Scottish full-back Alan Hutton of Tottenham Hotspur was involved in a number of attacking surges down the right flank that the Macedonians were unable to deal with. From one attack a wonderful chance to break the deadlock was squandered by McFadden, who clear in front of goal ballooned a shot high and wide after neatly side-stepping a defender right in front of goal

That miss from Scotland was immediately matched by Pandev with the Macedonia man shooting straight at the onrushing Gordon rather than squaring for a team-mate who appeared more perfectly placed to convert. Disater almost befell Macedonia goalkeeper Jane Nikolovski soon after as he let a tame Kenny Miller shot squirm from his grasp. As Scotland forwards rushed in a defender managed to get a toe to the ball ahead of the sliding Darren Fletcher and the chance was gone.

Then on 56 minutes Hampden Park errupted as Scotland were rewarded for their markedly improved performance when Steven Fletcher flighted a left wing cross in from the left and Brown flicked a skilful header into the far corner on 56 minutes to spark excitable celebration.

The game was now stretched with both teams tearing forward at every opportunity. Another Macedonia attack down the right saw Slavco Georgievski slamming a shot over the crossbar with the goal at his mercy. McFadden, then firstly wriggled through a succession of challenges to somehow fire the ball across goal but neither Miller or Steven Fletcher could capitalise on his efforts. Not to be outdone, he sealed the game for Scotland in 80 minutes but charging from the half way line in passing two statuesque defenders and rounding the goalkeeper. Despite what the mainstream media would have us belief it was far from Archie Gemmill circa. 1978 but it was a goal worthy of such a skilful and energetic player.

With the final whistle Scotland knew that the game against Holland would serve as a decisive 90 minutes that could push them near South Africa or see them parachuted into another qualification failure. As the fan streamed out of the ground they hardly seemed to care; the medieval festival outside Hampden Park could recommence.