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Is Strachan right: Are Scottish players TOO SMALL to be a big team?

Mark Lawford
Strachan’s dilemma: Leigh Griffiths and Barry Bannan ARE smaller than average but Craig Gordon (right) is a giant
Strachan’s dilemma: Leigh Griffiths and Barry Bannan ARE smaller than average but Craig Gordon (right) is a giant

Scotland crashed out of contention for World Cup qualification on Sunday after they could only draw 2-2 away to Slovenia – and manager Gordon Strachan has come up with a bizarre excuse.

Their manager Gordon Strachan came up with an unusual reason for his team’s failure, stating: “Genetically, we are behind.”

He added: “In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain. That means we had to pick a team tonight to try to combat [Slovenia’s] height and strength.

“We knew set plays would be a problem and they scored from two set plays. We can’t change genetics.”

Here, Yahoo Sport looks at the height data of Scotland and Slovenia’s starting line-ups using publicly available information on soccerway.com, and also sees how Scotland compare against the most recent starting line-ups of the other home nations plus the Spain side which won the 2010 World Cup.

READ MORE: Strachan blames genetics for Scotland’s continued failings

READ MORE: Scotland’s World Cup dreams shattered

READ MORE: AS IT HAPPENED: Slovenia v Scotland

  • Strachan was right about one thing – Slovenia were a taller team, with their average height coming out at 185 centimetres compared to Scotland’s 181.

  • Scotland did possess the tallest player on the pitch, though – goalkeeper Craig Gordon at 193cm. They also had the two shortest players – Barry Bannan (169) and Leigh Griffiths (170). Slovenia’s shortest player was Jan Repas (171) while their tallest was Bostjan Cesar (191).

  • Wales’ starting line-up against Georgia also came out with an average of 181cm, but they had the tallest player out of all the teams surveyed – goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey at 198cm.

  • England’s side against Lithuania averaged 185cm, slightly ahead of the Republic of Ireland against Moldova (184cm) and Northern Ireland against Norway (183cm).

  • The smallest players in the study were Joe Allen of Wales and Wes Hoolahan of the Republic – both 168cm.

  • Height is clearly only part of the equation, though – the Spain starting line-up which won the 2010 World Cup final against Holland averaged 180cm, with five of the XI under that mark.