
While Scotland are unlikely to progress too far in Euro 24 they are certainly worth following while they remain in the tournament if only for the wonderful support they get from their travelling fans, the Tartan Army. Adding to the appeal Scotland also have arguably the most tuneful anthem of the tournament in Flower of Scotland.
Despite Scotland's disastrous opening match losing 5-1 to hosts Germany they showed a spirited response in a thoroughly entertaining 1-1 draw against a talented Switzerland side. They still have a chance of making the knockout round if they can beat Hungary on Monday. It will not be an easy task.
Scotland's much-improved performance against the Swiss, in what the Sun newspaper called a "nerve-shredding draw" even went down well with the British media, the Mail calling it a "gritty" display while the BBC acknowledged it as "steely".
The roar that greeted Scott McTominay's deflected goal nearly blew the roof off the Cologne stadium. After the final whistle the Tartan Army celebrated as if they had won the entire tournament and the Cologne bars were packed with happy fans in good voice. They were particularly impressed by the performance of Brighton's Billy Gilmour who controlled things in midfield.
In the opener the Scottish fans knew they were in for a hammering against the Germans but that didn't dampen their spirits. When Scotland, who were being outplayed, scored their lone goal to make it 4-1 their fans displayed a fine sense of humour by directing chants of "You're not singing now" to the German fans.
The England fans can learn a bit from their northern neighbours. Sadly a small minority still chant pathetic anti-German songs concerning a war that finished nearly 80 years ago. It is embarrassing for regular England supporters to hear this sort of stuff.
On the field England were heavily criticised for their performance against Serbia in the opener and their lethargic performance in the 1-1 draw against Denmark did little to calm the critics. It came as no surprise that at the final whistle there was plenty of booing. In the media the words "dismal" and "dreadful" were the most common descriptions of England's performance.
Manager Gareth Southgate's move substituting Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden with 20 minutes to go reflected an air of desperation.
There has been an uncomfortable pattern in England's two performances so far. In both matches they began promisingly, but after taking the lead seemed to lose the plot. It prompted a headline in the BBC "What's wrong with England?" That's a hard one to answer. To be fair, Denmark played well with Christian Eriksen pulling all the strings. And let's not forget it was the Great Dane that provided the most poignant moment in the tournament so far by scoring against Slovenia three years after suffering cardiac arrest on the pitch.