FAIL! But still employed.

Last Wednesday, with its World Cup life hanging by a psylla, Scotland faced a Dutch team with absolutely nothing to play for as they had already secured a ticket for South Africa.

And Scotland proceeded to lose 1-0 and secure some tee times next summer. The failure to qualify certainly meant that manager George Burley would get the axe.

Nope. Burley was retained and Scotland acquiesce more and more to the fact that they’re probably just a marginally decent footballing nation.

From SFA chief executive Gordon Smith:

“It’s shite being Scottish! We’re the lowest of the low. The scum of the fucking Earth—the most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some hate the English. I don’t. They’re just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. Can’t even find a decent culture to be colonized by. We’re ruled by effete assholes. It’s a shite state of affairs to be in and all the fresh air in the world won’t make any fucking difference! ”

Oh wait, that was Rent Boy in Trainspotting. This is Smith:

‘It was always our full intention to have a review of the campaign, regardless of the outcome. We had a full and frank discussion with George Burley. We feel there is a lot of positive factors of the campaign despite the fact that we didn’t qualify… This is not the time for change, it is a time to invest faith in the manager and the players.

I’m guessing none of those ‘positive factors’ were results. I’m also guessing there is going to continue to be a relatively low return on that investment.

Contrast the resignation to a middling manager and unspectacular results in Scotland to the middle of the Americas where Costa Rica has just fired its manager with two qualifying matches left.

Entering last week, the Ticos were tops in the group, looked dangerous (particularly after a complete dismantling of the US at home), and seemed a lock to qualify. Now, after three straight defeats in which they failed to even score and posted a minus-8 goal difference, they are staring at the possibility of a home-and-home with the fifth place CONMEBOL team (Argentina, perhaps) and have fired manager Rodrigo Kenton.

WIth matches at home to Trinidad and Tobago, and at the USA two good results in the utlra-tight CONCACAF sextet could easily spare the Ticos from having to play a South American side.

So let’s recap. Scotland: average and cool with it. Costa Rica: not sitting around watching a return trip to the World Cup go down the toilet. Heck even Poland can’t take this kind of failure.