in Prague, but the team eventually collapsed to a 3–2 defeat. Largely due to the poor quality of the group outside the Czechs, who won all of their games, Scotland finished second in the group and progressed to a qualifying play–off against England. In the first leg of the play–off England won 2–0 at Hampden with Paul Scholes scoring both goals. Despite losing the home game and appearing to be out of contention, Scotland went to Wembley and won 1–0 with Don Hutchison scoring. It was a superb Wembley victory for Scotland, but it was a Pyrrhic victory as Scotland failed to qualify. 2000s After being unlucky in qualifying for Euro 2000, Scotland were nowhere near the play-off stage as they failed to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The team's failure to win against either Croatia or Belgium, their main rivals for qualification home or away was a key factor. This was despite taking a 2–0 lead at Hampden Park against Belgium, who had a player sent off in the incident that led to the second goal. Scotland then conceded two goals, including one in the last minute, allowing Belgium to escape with a 2–2 draw. When Scotland were well beaten 2–0 in the away match in Brussels, it sparked the end of several international careers with Paul Lambert, Billy Dodds and Tom Boyd all announcing their retirements after the defeat. Lambert would be persuaded back by incoming manager Berti Vogts but not before Craig Brown officially resigned from his job after 8 years in charge. His final match in charge was against Latvia in which Scotland won 2–1 at Hampden Park. Towards the end of his tenure, Brown was criticised by the media for persisting with an ageing core of players. Berti Vogts The SFA hired the first ever foreign manager of the national team when they appointed former Germany manager Berti Vogts in February 2002. Vogts signalled his intentions to blood young players after previous manager Craig Brown had stuck with the same group of players that he had inherited. In Vogts' first match in charge against France at the Stade de France, Scotland were hammered 5–0 against the World and European champions. A number of friendly matches followed arranged in the first half of 2002, including a tour of the Far East. Scotland lost all of these matches, including a 4–1 defeat against South Korea.