Scotland boss Gordon Strachan proud despite Germany defeat
Tuesday 8 September 2015 09:35, UK
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan was full of pride after his side's 3-2 defeat to Germany in a dramatic European Qualifier encounter on Monday night.
The hosts twice recovered from going behind at Hampden Park only to succumb to Ilkay Gundogan's winner, which ended their hopes of an automatic qualification spot for Euro 2016.
But Strachan was delighted with the way his side fought back from going behind to the reigning world champions on two occasions.
"Before the game, you can only ask players to do certain things, and I've asked the lot of them to play some of the best games they can play," he said.
"I got that tonight, and the team got that, and they should be proud of themselves.
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"When you play against the world champions, you need a bit of luck at times."
The defeat was Scotland's second in five days as they were overturned by Georgia, and their only hope of reaching next year's tournament will be via the play-offs if they can catch the Republic of Ireland.
Strachan's men sit four points behind them, but the Scotland boss remained defiant and said nothing should be written off yet.
"Unless the points are different from what I see, [we can catch them]," he added.
"We've got a game at home and a game away - we win them and then we'll see what happens.
"We're still in it, that's for sure. We've still got a chance of being in France next summer."
Germany's opener came courtesy of a deflection, while Muller's second of the night also went against the hosts as a David Marshall save fell for the Bayern Munich man, leaving him an open goal to head into.
Although hugely proud of his side's battling display, he bemoaned their luck, which he said they needed if they were to have a chance of beating last year's World Cup winners.
"They just need to go and watch a video of their own performance, because I thought I didn't have a failure," he said.
"I asked them to play well as individuals, which they did, but you still need a bit of luck against these people.
"We didn't get it at any time at all."
