GIGGS (From The Sunday Times)
Ryan Giggs must have looked down the thin red line and felt an unusual sense of responsibility in Moscow last night. Though no stranger to big nights in Europe, Giggs usually has his Manchester United team for company, not Danny Gabbidon of Cardiff City and Darren Barnard of Grimsby Town.
Yet Wales’ achievement could be measured in familiar terms. United would have been more than pleased to leave the Lokomotiv Stadium with a 0-0 draw and the home leg to come.
If it leads to a summer spent at the European Championships in Portugal, the night will take on due reverence in the annals of Welsh history. And if Gabbidon, Barnard, Mark Delaney and Jason Koumas answered the demand for heroes made by Mark Hughes, the Wales coach, then Giggs’ utter commitment to the cause defined heroism in a different way.
For Giggs, it was not a night to be heroic, it was a night to be a journeyman, to work selflessly for his team, to hustle, harry and tackle, all in the name of survival.
Playing for your country complicates emotions and demands different sacrifices. It prompts the sort of distraction that drove Roy Keane to walk his dog rather than play in the last World Cup
Also, Hughes says that the Rusdsians tried to get Giggs sent off
Hughes said: "The tackle was terrible, it was something you do not want to see. I was amazed it went unpunished.
"And the way their lad went down soon after, it did look like they were trying to get Ryan sent off.
"It was theatrical. Quite possibly they were at a stage when they needed to make something happen for them and maybe the felt by us losing a player it would help them.
"Ryan showed great restraint. But they are experienced international players now and they play a lot of club football in Europe, they know what happens and that experience came to the forefront."
FLETCHER (From The Sunday Times)
They (Scotland) will, however, have to survive another siege in Amsterdam like the one they endured yesterday after James McFadden’s 22nd-minute goal, brilliantly created by Darren Fletcher, gave them something worth fighting for.
A thing of great beauty to Scottish eyes, the goal was an ugly sight to those who see the world through orange-coloured glasses. It emanated from the swagger that Fletcher and McFadden have brought to a team that the continent still presumes to be a bunch of honest toilers.
Fletcher, who floated through this game, swayed contemptuously past Edgar Davids on the edge of the box and found Barry Ferguson. Scotland’s captain played the ball out to Paul Dickov and then hared into the six-yard box for the return, but the striker fizzed the ball across too hard and the Dutch cleared for a corner.
RVN
By all accounts he had a quiet game but missed a good chance to equalise.
The Observer:
Andy van der Meyde's cross from the right gave Ruud van Nistelrooy a free header, but the Old Trafford striker sent the ball straight to Douglas.