The Independent
·15. November 2024
The Independent
·15. November 2024
Scotland must take points off Croatia in their clash at Hampden Park if they have any chance of avoiding relegation from League A in the Nations League.
Steve Clarke’s men suffered three straight defeats in this campaign but a goalless draw with Portugal gave them hope of pulling off a surprising survival.
Scotland trail Poland by three points in the group so will need some help from the Portuguese if they hope to overturn that deficit. The big opportunity will come next week with a trip to Poland where anything less than three points would send Scotland into the lower league.
Croatia are secure but will have their sights set on topping the group. They will need to beat Scotland to do so which means they will throw everything at them this evening.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game.
The clash takes place on Friday 15 November with kick-off set for 7:45pm GMT at Hampden Park
Viaplay holds the rights to all of Scotland’s competitive home and away matches until 2028. They made a last minute deal with ITV to show the Nations League matches against Poland and Portugal but the last two outings have been aired on YouTube channels run by Viaplay and the Scottish Football Association.
Unless another late deal is done the match will only be available online via YouTube.
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Che Adams and Lewis Morgan pulled out of the camp on Tuesday with Stuart Armstrong being brought in as the lone replacement for the pair.
Steve Clarke otherwise has a strong squad to select from with the likes of John McGinn, Scott McKenna and Jack Hendry all back involved.
Scotland XI: Gordon; Ralston, Souttar, Hanley, Robertson; Gilmour, McLean; Christie, McTominay, Doak; Dykes
Croatia XI: Livakovic; Sutalo, Caleta-Car, Gvardiol; Perisic, Modric, Palasic, Sosa; Sucic, Matanovic, Kramaric
Scotland 21/10
Draw 9/5
Croatia 1/1
Scotland have managed to come through this tight contests in the past especially when the stakes are quite high. Croatia are the better team but Steve Clarke’s men have home advantage and could pull off a surprising win. The more likely option is they do enough to hold Croatia to a draw.