‘Will he miss the World Cup?’ - Fans all make the same joke as Newcastle ace suffers injury

A number of fans in the Transfer Tavern have been making the same jibe towards Scottish midfielder, Matt Ritchie. According to Sky Sports News, the 28-year-old Magpies star has had to withdraw from the Scottish national team after suffering a knee injury, meaning he will miss the upcoming friendly fixtures against Peru and Mexico in two weeks time.

BREAKING: Matt Ritchie has withdrawn from the Scotland squad because of a knee injury. #SSN

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 16, 2018

The ex-Bournemouth winger has been in stunning form for Newcastle in the last few months and helped guide the club to a top half finish against the odds. However, he was unable to guide Scotland towards a place in the World Cup during Scotland’s qualifying campaign and he can now render himself lucky that his injury hasn’t forced him to miss out on a place in Russia.

The fans propping our bar up have been making that same joke, with the Scottish national team’s ongoing absence from the World Cup finals being laughed at. This year makes it 20 years since Scotland last featured at a World Cup, meaning there’s a whole generation of Scotland fans who are yet to see their side play on the biggest stage in football. At the age of 28, Matt Ritchie has at least one more chance to make a World Cup squad, but only if Scotland can qualify for Qatar 2022.

You can read the fans’ verdict on Ritchie’s injury here:

Shame he's gonna be out of the World Cup now

— Lee (@Lee_Mansfield94) May 16, 2018

*BREAKING: Matt Ritchie has withdrawn from the Scotland squad because of not actually being Scottish. #SSN

— bigelbow (@BigelbowAlan) May 16, 2018

Are Scotland aware they aren't at the World Cup ? or is this another "we didn't like the outcome of the previous result so we are going to carry on like nothing happened" situation like devolution ?
(retreats behind sofa awaiting barrage of independence tweeters outrage)

— Phil Lown (@lownyp) May 16, 2018