Scotland Captain, Andy Robertson, insists on excitement over nerves as Scotland sit on the cusp of a first World Cup spot for 28 years.
A win on Tuesday night ensures their first World Cup qualification since 1998. Regardless of the result, they’ve already guaranteed themselves a Play-Off spot, but a win will see them top the group and qualify automatically.
In terms of team news, Steve Clarke has confirmed that the match will come too soon for Billy Gilmour, who missed out on the Greece tie with injury too. Any yellow cards accumulated tomorrow will carry over to a potential Play-Off round, but the slate will be wiped clean should Scotland qualify for the Finals. Players on one booking away from missing the first Play-Off match are Aaron Hickey, Ben Gannon-Doak, Che Adams, John McGinn, Lewis Ferguson and John Souttar.
Speaking in the press conference, ahead of his 90th cap, Robertson said: “ I think we’re all excited, obviously, we’ve got a chance to qualify for a World Cup, which you can’t play down, I think all the lads are excited, but yeah, we’ve got to be ready to perform tomorrow night as well.”
The Liverpool defender then praised his teams experience in big games, ahead of a massive one tomorrow. He said, “If you look through the whole squad, we’ve played in a lot of big games, in terms of cup finals, league deciders, big games for Scotland.”
He’d also stress the importance of Scotland having two shots at qualification, should tomorrow not go their way, Robertson said, “I think everyone in the country would’ve bit their hand off for a Play-Off at the start of September… the fact that we’ve got that in our back pocket is a positive, but right now, we’re 90 minutes away.”
Leading up to this match, Scotland fell 3-2 away to Greece but were handed an unlikely lifeline as Denmark were held by bottom-of-the-group Belarus in Copenhagen, leaving qualification still on the line. In the previous meeting between the two, Scotland earned a 0-0 draw at Parken in the opening qualifier. The Danes last visited Hampden in 2021, where they were defeated 2-0 thanks to goals from current Scotland players, Che Adams and John Souttar.
Looking ahead to the match, Scotland will hope to continue their 12-year record of avoiding defeat at home in World Cup qualifiers, but many Scots would be left disappointed with a draw, which would extend the qualifying campaign into March. Fail to win and Scotland will enter the Play-Offs in pot two where they’ll first face off against a pot three side (likely to be one of Albania, Bosnia, Ireland, or Kosovo). Should they advance, the winner of a pot one against a pot four clash will stand between them and their first World Cup in 28 years.
