George Burley survived to fight another day as Scotland manager as goals from Scott Brown and James McFadden secured a crucial victory against Macedonia to keep their World Cup play-off hopes alive.
Pressure had been mounting on Burley since last month's 4-0 thrashing in Norway left the nation's chances of qualifying for next summer's finals in South Africa in the balance. He knew defeat at Hampden Park yesterday could have spelled the end of his tenure.
After a nervous and feisty first-half had ended goalless, the Scots rose to the challenge in the second, Brown claiming his first international goal after the restart and McFadden ensuring the victory late on ahead of another crunch match on Wednesday night against Holland.
There was a furore towards the end off the first half when Brown won a corner rather than allow possession to return to Macedonia, who had put the ball out of play after one of their players was injured.
Pushing and shoving ensued and several players were booked, including McFadden who will now miss the clash against Holland.
Lazio striker Goran Pandev was a threat throughout for Macedonia, but, as they game went on, Scotland began to dominate and Hampden erupted when the opener arrived after 56 minutes as Brown connected with a Steven Fletcher cross to direct a header past the Macedonia goalkeeper.
As Macedonia, who were level on points with Scotland before kick-off, poured forward, Burley's men broke and McFadden wrapped up victory 10 minutes from time with a terrific solo effort. He collected the ball on the halfway line before skipping past two defenders, rounding the goalkeeper before coolly slotting into the back of the net.
Midfielder Wesley Sneijder strained ankle ligaments in Holland's 3-0 friendly win over Japan and is doubtful for Wednesday's game against Scotland. Inter Milan's Sneijder was taken to hospital for checks immediately after the game and a spokeswoman for the Dutch team said a decision had not yet been taken on whether he would rejoin the squad.
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk had earlier expressed concern about the injury. "Wesley told me he heard something crack so it looks serious but we have to await the outcome of the investigation in the hospital," he said.
Sneijder scored his side's second goal, between strikes from Robin van Persie and Klaas Jan Huntelaar, in a low-key win. The Dutch have already qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the Scotland match is their last in Group Nine.
In England's Group Six, Ukraine kept their play-off hopes intact with a 5-0 home victory over minnows Andorra.
* With agencies
Tom Fletcher on 'soft power'
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
Hamilton’s 2017
Australia - 2nd; China - 1st; Bahrain - 2nd; Russia - 4th; Spain - 1st; Monaco - 7th; Canada - 1st; Azerbaijan - 5th; Austria - 4th; Britain - 1st; Hungary - 4th; Belgium - 1st; Italy - 1st; Singapore - 1st; Malaysia - 2nd; Japan - 1st; United States - 1st; Mexico - 9th
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
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Match info
Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace
Man of the match: Cheikhou Kouyate (Crystal Palace)
MATCH INFO
Watford 1 (Deulofeu 80' p)
Chelsea 2 (Abraham 5', Pulisic 55')
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
RACE CARD
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Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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