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Sports

Scotland's Two Glorious Free Kicks Snuffed Out by Harry Kane

The oppressed couldn't topple the oppressor today. But they certainly showed some grit.
Screen grab from Fox Sports

This weekend is pretty good for historic rivalries. Sure, for you Yanks out there, there's USA-Mexico tomorrow, but today belongs to Scotland vs. England. Oppressed vs. Oppressor. And for a minute there, we almost saw the sun set on the English footballing empire.

The game was a relative snoozer, with a flat scoreline dragging across the better part of the first 3/4 of the game. But in the 70th minute, the march toward English victory seemed inevitable, as Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain slipped a cheeky ball past a Scottish defender to run around and lace a ball past a cluster of blue and white. It was a pretty gorgeous solo performance.

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But Scotland—who stand at 61 to England's 13 in the FIFA rankings—would not go quietly into that good night. They had a trick up their sleeve: a man by the name of Leigh Griffiths. The Celtic man came with an 87th minute curler off free kick set a dozen yards above the box that absolutely stunned England—his first goal for country. And what a way to do it.

Griffiths' second would come tightly on the heels of his first—just three minutes later, during yet another free kick. The man seems to have a preternatural ability to find the net on a set piece. This one bent over the wall and found net close to the opposite post from the first shot, dipping beautifully out of reach of England's keeper Joe Hart.

But just when you were ready to tear into a bite of victory haggis, England's anointed white(est-ever) knight Harry Kane—donning the armband as captain for the first time—came to rescue England's fragile soccer ego. In stoppage time, Raheem Sterling summoned up a peach of a cross for Kane that ripped through the back line. Kane came in with a karate-like kick that laced in the ball beautifully.

From an objective view, it was a helluva game. For those pulling for a clear underdog, it ended up a bit bitter sweet. But that sweet came before the bitter, and it tasted so good.