Latest Scotland Soccer News

ROME (AP) _ Italy coach Roberto Donadoni is fed up with media criticism that he's lost control of his team. The Azzurri, who face Scotland in European Championship qualifying in Bari on Wednesday, trail the Scots and France by five points in Group B. ``If the results don't come, it's right to criticize and draw conclusions. But if, if, if. Let this team play. I don't understand why there are ...

Aiden McGeady and Maciej Zurawski scored Sunday for Celtic to beat Dunfermline 2-1 and maintain its 16-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League. McGeady scored in the 49th minute with a drive from the edge of the area and Zurawski volleyed home in the 68th against the league's bottom club. In the 90th, Dunfermline midfielder Stephen Simmons scored from close range. Celtic has 47 points. Rangers and Aberdeen have 31 points. On Saturday, Rangers beat Hibernian ...

Shunsuke Nakamura scored from a free kick in the 81st minute Tuesday to lift Celtic to a 1-0 win over Manchester United and, for the first time in club history, a spot in the second round of the Champions League. Man United now needs a draw against Benfica in the final Group F game to advance. A draw against Celtic would also have been enough. Louis Saha had a chance ...

Maciej Zurawski scored for Celtic in a 2-1 win over Motherwell in the Scottish Premier League on Saturday. Zurawski ran on to a cross from Shunsuke Nakamura to score in the 66th minute. Motherwell defender Stephen Craigan earlier scored an own-goal in the 16th while trying to clear a shot from Zurawski. Motherwell scored through Scott McDonald in the 77th. Celtic leads with 28 points, followed by Hearts on 20. Hearts' hopes of challenging Celtic for the ...

Andrius Velicka scored twice Hearts rallied from two goals down and playing with 10 me to capture a 2-2 tie at neighbour Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League on Sunday. Two days after manager Tony Mowbray left the club to move to English League Championship club West Bromwich Albion, Hibs went 2-0 up by the 16th minute at Easter Road. Merouane Zemmama scored after five minutes from a layoff from Chris Killen. Zemmama then took the corner ...

Shunsuke Nakamura scored a 15-minute hat trick to lead Scottish champion Celtic to a 4-1 win at Dundee United. Nakamura scored in the 44th, 48th and 58th minutes after Noel Hunt had put Dundee United ahead in the fifth minute. ``Only good players can do what he does and start the game poorly and have the mentality to come back,'' Celtic manager Gordon Strachan said. ``A lot of players can start badly and get worse. But Paul Telfer ...

The attacking partnership of David Trezeguet and Thierry Henry was once the envy of Europe. It now looks likely to be over after France's surprise defeat to Scotland. It is three years since the pair last combined well _ in a 3-0 away win against Germany _ and Trezeguet's future looks bleak after France's 1-0 loss in European Championship qualifying on Saturday. Since scoring the golden goal against Italy in ...

Ukraine's match against Scotland is a chance for the team to prove it deserves a place at the 2008 European Championship. Ukraine, which reached the quarter-finals at this year's World Cup, has one win and one loss from its two Group B matches. Scotland, which leads the group with a perfect nine points, visits Wednesday. ``If we want to get to Euro 2008, we should prove it,'' Ukraine coach Oleh ...

Stung by a surprise loss to Scotland, France gets a chance to bounce back against the Faeroe Islands. Raymond Domenech's team lost its first away qualifying game in 14 years, 1-0, at Hampden Park on Saturday to slip three points behind the Scots in qualifying for the 2008 European Championship. Now Thierry Henry and his teammates have a home game Wednesday against a Faeroes team which hasn't scored a goal ...

Scotland's 1-0 victory over France in a European Championship qualifier at last gave the Tartan Army something to celebrate. The fans hope to raise their glasses again after Wednesday's game at Ukraine. A surprise triumph over the World Cup runner-up put Walter Smith's team three points clear at the top of Group B as the Scots try to reach a major championship for the first time since 1998. Well into the early hours of Sunday, hundreds of ...

When a team goes from reaching the World Cup final to losing at Scotland, a manager will try to blame many things _ anything. ``I was disappointed with the ball boys for slowing down the game,'' France manager Raymond Domenech said after Les Bleus' 1-0 loss to the Scots on Saturday. ``I think they may have been educated in that. It's regrettable that it was here in a country known for its fair play.'' Domenech, who refused to ...