Scotland missed out on a place at Euro 2008

And Saturday's cruel 2-1 defeat to Italy is just the latest in a long line of near things for the national team and their followers.

While it may not be healthy to wallow in previous failures, here goes...

Scotland and Italy were vying for the one qualifying spot from their group and played a head-to-head in the final two games.

John Greig's late goal had famously given the Scots victory at Hampden in their only victory over the Azzurri to date.

Unfortunately, Ezio Pascutti put Italy ahead before late goals from Giacinto Facchetti and Bruno Mora made sure it was Italy who would progress to the finals in England.

Scotland had overestimated the unknowns of Zaire in their opening Group B game in Dortmund, settling for a 2-0 victory.

Billy Bremner missed a sitter as the Scots were held 0-0 by Brazil in their next game.

Yugoslavia, who had hammered the Africans 9-0, secured the 1-1 draw with the Scots that they needed to progress to the next stage, while Brazil sent Willie Ormand's side out on goal difference with a 3-0 win over Zaire in the final game.

After a dismal defeat to Peru and a shocking draw with Iran, Scotland needed to beat 1974 finalists Holland by three goals to progress to the knockout phase.

And, when Archie Gemmill scored one of the greatest solo goals in the tournament's history to put Scotland 3-1 up, an amazing upset looked possible.

Kenny Dalglish netted just before half-time to level the scores and Gemmill added a penalty early in the second half before conjuring up his moment of magic on 68 minutes.

However, the Dutch replied just four minutes later with a blistering long-range drive from Johnny Rep to edge his side through on goal difference.

Both Scotland and the Soviets had beaten New Zealand and lost to Brazil. But Scotland needed to win in Malaga due to an inferior goal difference.

Joe Jordan fired the Scots in front after 15 minutes only for Aleksandr Chivadze to replay after the break and Ramaz Shengelia to profit from the infamous collision between Alan Hansen and Willie Miller.

Graeme Souness drilled in an equaliser with three minutes remaining but, once again, it wasn't enough.

Having somehow held on for a goalless draw against Holland and lost out to host nation England it looked unlikely that Scotland could progress.

However, after Ally McCoist had powered Scotland in front with a great strike things began to look up.

Scotland fans have endured some heart-breaking times

With England beating Holland 4-0, Scotland were on course to reach the knockout stages.

But Patrick Kluivert's 78th minute strike at Wembley tipped the scales in favour of the Dutch and the Tartan Army had to make the short journey home from Villa Park, Birmingham.

After both sides had finished runners-up in their groups, Kevin Keegan's England had won 2-0 at Hampden thanks to a double from Paul Scholes.

Don Hutchison won the game for Craig Brown's Scots in the return at Wembley and only a superb David Seaman save prevented Christian Dailly's powerful header levelling the tie.

The thrashing in Amsterdam may not look like a near miss.

But it came after a 1-0 victory over the Dutch in Glasgow that had the nation dreaming of a place in the Euro 2004 finals.

The Scots, under Berti Vogts, had recovered from an infamous draw away to the Faroe Islands to finish second in their qualifying group behind Germany.

Unfortunately, the Dutch, inspired by a Ruud van Nistelrooy hat-trick, stood in their way as the Scots suffered their worst defeat in 42 years.

Needing a win to ensure a place at next year's finals, Scotland gave the World Cup winners a real fright.

Having lost a goal inside the first two minutes, the Scots rallied to level the game with a close range effort from skipper Barry Ferguson.

James McFadden squandered a glorious chance before a disputed stoppage-time free-kick resulted in a headed goal from Christian Panucci and Scotland finish third behind Italy and France.