February 1995 against Hamilton Academical. International career Cooper made his international debut for Scotland under-21s in the 1976–77 season in a 0–0 draw versus the Czech Republic in Plzeň. He won another three caps that season, versus Wales, Switzerland and England. His debut for the full Scotland national team came on 12 September 1979, in a 1–1 draw with Peru at Hampden Park. Cooper played for the national team again the following month in a 1–1 draw at home to Austria in the Euro 1980 qualifiers, but after that he wasn't capped again for over four years. Cooper returned to the national team on 28 February 1984, scoring against Wales in a 2–1 British Home Championship win, and he was on the scoresheet for Scotland again later in the year in a 6–1 friendly win over Yugoslavia. Cooper became a regular in the Scotland team and prior to the 1986 World Cup, playing in 11 consecutive games. A key match was the last qualification group match, against Wales in September 1985, in which Scotland needed at least a draw to keep their qualification hopes alive. Cooper began the match on the bench and Scotland struggled early on, as Mark Hughes scored for Wales in the 13th minute and goalkeeper Jim Leighton struggled with vision after losing a contact lens. Scotland manager Jock Stein replaced Gordon Strachan with Cooper in the 61st minute. With nine minutes remaining, Scotland were awarded a penalty kick that Cooper scored. As the game ended in a 1–1 draw, the Scotland team and around 12,000 travelling fans celebrated their survival in the competition. The achievement was completely overshadowed by the collapse and death of Jock Stein, who fell ill at the final whistle and died 30 minutes later. Cooper also scored in a 2–0 win against Australia in the qualification play-off, and made two appearances in the finals in Mexico. Cooper scored his final two goals (from six in total) for Scotland on 12 November 1986 in a 3–0 home win against Luxembourg in a Euro 88 qualifier. He was capped twice for Scotland as a Motherwell player, and the last of his 22 caps was earned on 16 May 1990 in a friendly against Egypt at Pittodrie. An injury precluded him from being selected for the Scotland squad for the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals. Cooper's final Scotland cap was auctioned by his friend John