Arcadia Scotland

"Typical Scotland," "Classic Scotland," "Painfully close," "We were just unlucky," are just some of the common phrases used by Scots to describe our unsuccessful attempts to qualify for a Men's FIFA World Cup over the last 27 years. Yes, you heard that right, 27 painful years without witnessing our boys in Blue compete on the world stage.

That very stage was in France in 1998 and the tournament started with great promise, a respectable 2-1 defeat to 5-time World Cup champions Brazil, who would later go on to lose 3-0 in the final against hosts France. A 1-1 draw with Norway soon followed in the second group stage match, raising the hopes of the nation for a potential top two finish in the group which would lead to qualification for the knockout rounds of football's biggest national tournament.

However, the hope that had spread from Peebles to John O'Groats was soon replaced by a familiar feeling of disappointment after a 3-0 defeat to Morocco eliminated them from the competition. Disappointed would be an under statement, but say it quietly, Scots secretly love to have something to moan about. The failure of our football team for decades, the weather, the inexplicable change to the Irn Bru recipe, the cost of a pint of beer, just a selection of many mumbles you may hear during your time in Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, St Andrews or Aberdeen.

Go back five decades and you will discover that Scotland actually qualified for FIVE World Cups in a row, spanning from 1974-1990, a feat not possible without the Scottish greats such as Kenny Dalglish, Archie Gemill, Graeme Souness, Ally McCoist and of course, the late great Denis Law. Law is the only Scottish player to ever win the Ballon D'or, the annual award given to the best football player in the world, not bad for a wee guy from Aberdeen.

These five tournaments weren’t without their own painful moments though. Needing a win to progress, Scotland were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with the then Yugoslavia in 1974. More agony would follow in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. The task was simple; win by 3 clear goals against the Netherlands and the Scots would reach the elusive knockout rounds for the first time in their history.

Scotland didn’t make life easy for themselves when they went 1-0 down in the first half, but they did come painfully close to the required winning margin when they turned it round to lead 3-1, before conceding late on to the Dutch side and securing a 3-2 win which, in normal circumstances would have been a great result, but ultimately was not quite enough to see them qualify for the knockouts. A valiant effort was shown in the 1990 World Cup as Scotland needed a draw in the last match against familiar opponents Brazil but the Scots came up just short as they conceded late to lose the match 1-0, so we are just unlucky right?

Modern day qualification hopes heavily lean on Scott McTominay, a powerful and technically gifted midfielder that has carried the team and been a pivotal figure in qualification for both the Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 tournaments. McTominay now plays his club football at Napoli, a club synonymous with the late Diego Maradona who is also rather popular in Scotland due to the infamous “Hand of God” incident that eliminated England from the 1986 World Cup. Scott is not the only Scottish player that currently resides in Italy, with Billy Gilmour (Napoli) Che Adams (Torino FC), Lennon Miller (Udinese), Lewis Ferguson (Bologna FC), Josh Doig (Sassuolo) and Liam Henderson (Sampdoria) also applying their trade in that great football nation.

Denmark, Greece and Belarus stand in Scotland’s way of making it to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Steve Clarke is the Scotland manager who is responsible for guiding us through a tricky group and his pragmatic, conservative approach can sometimes draw criticism, but he has no doubt had a successful tenure since his induction in 2019. Not many modern day Scotland managers can say that they have qualified for any major international football tournament, but Clarke managed to qualify for the Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 outings for European elites, the former being the first Euros tournament that the Scots played in since 1996. 

Scotland have started the World Cup Qualifying group in fine form, securing a 0-0 draw away to Denmark, the top seeds in the group, followed by a comfortable 2-0 victory away to Belarus. The Scots then hosted Greece at Hampden Park in October and came out with a rather fortuitous 3-1 win in Glasgow, but we are due some luck right? The fourth and most recent match was against Belarus and a win would secure a minimum of a play-off spot for the World Cup. Scotland secured a 2-1 win which steers us a step closer to the plan to North America so the Tartan Army must be delighted right? Not quite, as the familiar moans soon followed about how Scotland should be beating the Belarusians much more convincingly. I told you we love to have a wee moan right?

Anyway, let’s finish on a positive note here! If you want to see if Scotland make it to their first World Cup since 1998 then get along to your local pub to see them face up against Greece and Denmark on the 15th and 18th of November respectively. A draw or a win against Greece and a win against Denmark would mean we win the group and secure automatic qualification, otherwise there may be a one off play-off match to determine if we make it. Scotland wouldn’t let us down, would they?