SFA performance director Mark Wotte has taken the opportunity of his regular blog on the SFA website to look beyond the national sides' current travails. While we can stand wring our hands and go over how bad we are at the moment, Wotte says we must address the problems behind the national team's decline. Scotland will not be heading to Brazil next year after all slim hopes of qualification for the World Cup were killed off by a 2-0 defeat to Serbia this week. We are now bottom of Group A, without a single win, and with only pride to play for in their remaining games.Wotte wrote: "I can only share the disappointment and frustration suffered by the Scotland supporters and our national coach, Gordon Strachan, after the results in our FIFA World Cup qualifying double header against Wales and Serbia, defeats that leave us bottom of Group A and with no prospect of reaching the finals in Brazil next year. Fifteen years have passed since we last qualified for a major tournament. It is too long for a country with such a proud history and such a passionate support. There has been no shortage of opinion or debate as to why Scottish football finds itself in a period of downturn, but we have two options: we either wallow in self-pity, or we address the reasons behind that decline. We have to change our philosophy and our approach to elite talent identification and development. To borrow the wisdom of Einstein: insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This group of players are doing their very best in a difficult qualifying group throughout what is increasingly looking like a jinxed campaign. The reality is that in the time since Scotland opened France 98 against Brazil, many nations across the continent have evolved at a rate superior to our own, both physically and technically. We have little alternative but to accept that inconvenient truth and do something about it."Wotte has been working since his arrival in June 2011 to produce the stars of the future who can transform the fortunes of the national team. He added: "It may be of scant consolation to those fans who today look at the group table with a feeling of despair but I maintain the seeds have been sown for a brighter future. The recent successes of Germany, Spain, Holland and now Belgium have happened by design. Through the Scottish FA's Performance programme, we aim to implement and execute our own plan to create a more prosperous future for the game, with more skilful and dynamic footballers. It will take time but crucially, the process is under way. Twelve years ago, Belgium did likewise and now have a generation of top-class players excelling in the top leagues in the world. Spain, once derided as perennial underachievers, have taken world football to a new level of performance. Our objective is to make Scotland a force in international football again."
Source: ScottishFitba
Source: FOOTYMAD
