Seldom if ever can an English goal have been greeted so rapturously by a Scottish crowd

Seldom, if ever, can an English goal have been greeted so rapturously by a Scottish crowd. "Get intae them," they roared, followed by the almost pleading refrain of "Give us a goal".By then Scotland ought to have given them three. Yet again it was their fate to be gallant failures - eliminated because they scored fewer goals than the Dutch - though the second half of that tag does not do justice to a display brimming with passion.Midway through the first half came the the first of four good news bulletins from Wembley. Had the scores stayed as they were, with the Scots leading 1-0 and the Dutch trailing England by four goals, no amount of coefficients and calculators could have denied them. Then Patrick Kluivert scored through the goalkeeper's legs 100 miles to the south, and even frantic Scottish pressure could not produce a goal to add to Ally McCoist's 19th in the dark blue. Scotland 1 Switzerland 0 For 16 heady minutes here last night, Scotland had one foot in the quarter- finals of a major tournament for the first time. There is no suggestion anywhere, incidentally, that it has any connection with the idea of Dutch courage or alcoholic valour, though in that sense the England team might be said to have too much "bottle" altogether.Thomas Sutcliffe. To lose your bottle may just be a marginally more decorous version of "bricking it".

These are murky waters, though - in prison slang, to be "at the bottle" or a "bottle-merchant" is to be a predatory homosexual, so there is perhaps some dim memory of sexual submission in the term. It seems most likely that it is a verbal pitch invasion - making its way into footballing talk from the terraces of the Seventies, as the game itself becomes more physically aggressive and less gentlemanly. A player might possess every physical skill required, but if he lacks bottle, he will be unable to deploy them when things get rough. A more likely etymology is to be found in its use as rhyming slang for "arse" (bottle and glass), a meaning that suggests a colloquially honoured connection between courage and control of the sphincter muscles. Partridge notes several slang and underworld uses for the term, none of which gives an entirely clear derivation. "No bottle" could be used to mean "no good" or "useless" in the early part of this century, but that dismissive sense doesn't quite square with its on-pitch meaning, where it refers to a very specific disability - the disappearance of confrontational bravery or nerve. "I am never going to get revenge on Mr van Basten," said Tony Adams in an interview yesterday, "as he has bottled it and retired." This seemed a little unfair to Mr van Basten, who could be forgiven for thinking that he had left the field as the victor, but whatever its justice, the remark testified again to the perceived importance of "bottle" as a component in a winning psychology Its origins are a little obscure.

And in the meantime, I can look forward to having the beach to myself this weekend.. My footie-mad friends won't forgive me for saying so, but I'll be much happier if they lose. It'll bring this crazy national psychosis to a rapid, if brutal close. I know the country will get over it, just like it recovered from its ignominious early exit from the Mexico World Cup 10 years ago. Right now, that dictum is the only thing keeping this manic-depressive excuse for a country from slitting its collective wrists. When Germany walked all over Russia on Sunday night, the reaction around here was akin to an epileptic convulsion.If Italy win, I will have to put up with another nauseating outpouring of self-congratulatory glee. There is a saying in Italy that the national football team always messes up when things are going well but pulls out the stops when the pressure is on.

When we lose, the fault is collective." Go, Arrigo, sock it to them.And so to tonight's challenge against Germany. As for the decision to play Ravanelli at less than top form, well, he had gone on to the field for Juventus in the European Cup final against Ajax last month in a similar condition and played like a dream. The fact that he didn't do the same last Friday was just bad luck.As Sacchi himself has said: if his tactical manoeuvres had worked out, he would have been a hero. So it seems churlish and immature to blame him because the team did not live up to his expectations The truth is that football is a team effort "When we win, we are all good. Yes, it was fine leaving the field without a top-flight defender after Apolloni was sent off - after all, the Italian side has struggled through far worse with 10 men before.

After all, it's not so long ago that he was lionised as the architect of Italy's glorious victory in their opening game against Russia.Of course he had to hold Zola and Casiraghi back, I say; neither was in top physical form and their energies needed to be spared. Zola was still recovering from dysentery and Casiraghi had complained of stomach cramps in training. OK, so the team screwed up, but that doesn't mean the whole country has to go on hold. Actually, I've been taking perverse pleasure in arguing Sacchi's side of the story. Their moments of joy are suspiciously over-confident, their lows all slavering self-pity and melodramatic recrimination.Reading the sports press, one phrase pops inevitably into my head: grow up Don't take it all so seriously.