Underdogs Scotland set for biggest challenge in 23 years

It’s been a long time coming. For the first time in 23 years, Scotland will play again in a major international tournament.

With the whole country behind them, the Tartan Army will be looking to go as far as possible and have more than enough motivation from the fans to do so.

Scotland, placed in Group D, take on arguably one of the toughest groups in the competition this year with the Czech Republic, 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia and the “auld enemy” England standing in their way.

Three crunching fixtures to provide the early summer excitement for Scottish fans and with the obvious one standing out to be played at Wembley against England on June 18th. Steve Clarke’s men need no explanation of what a win would mean against their biggest rivals not just in competition terms, but for the whole nation.

The 26-man squad picked by Clarke and his team oozes with quality, a squad with players who have represented in major finals on numerous occasions at club level who will all be raring to go come June 14th when Scotland play their first match against the Czechs at Hampden Park.

Scotland last took on the Czech Republic in a Nations League encounter against a very inexperienced squad as Lyndon Dykes scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory. However, this time out will be much different and not an easy task at all for the Scots.

Steve Clarke’s side have impressed in their pre-tournament friendlies with a 2-2 draw against a reborn Netherlands team under Frank de Boer and a 1-0 victory over Luxembourg with Che Adams grabbing the only goal of the game.

Jack Hendry scored his first Scotland goal with a fine drilled strike past Tim Krul in the impressive draw against the Dutch. Kevin Nisbet also got off the mark for Scotland as he tapped the ball in at the back post thanks to a terrific trademark cross from skipper Andy Robertson.

After these two results, it now means Scotland have lost just two matches in their last 16 games heading into the European finals and are not short of talent up front with Adams, Dykes and Nisbet all impressing in the warmup games.

It will not quite be the return to the major international spotlight that Scotland fans, or any fans for that matter, were hoping for. However, the nation has been waiting some time for the moment the Tartan Army could return and will seize the opportunity to take it all in.

Steve Clarke has included a few surprise selections in his squad with Greg Taylor the third choice left-back behind captain Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney which would assume he will go into the tournament playing a back five, with Tierney shifting to the left-sided centre back role.

Nathan Paterson and Billy Gilmour, two Rangers academy graduates, could be ones to watch for Scotland having both made their Scotland debuts on Sunday against Luxembourg. Gilmour, now of Chelsea, recently lifted the Champions League with his club and although he did not play a massive part in the European triumph, he could be crucial to Scotland’s midfield.

The midfield is arguably the biggest area of quality in the squad. Players such as David Turnbull, Scott McTominay and John McGinn, all off the back of superb seasons for their respective clubs, will be needing to provide the engine both going forward and defensively for the team.

McGinn is one of Clarke’s most integral players in Scotland’s recent run of form despite missing the warmup games due to isolation. The Aston Villa midfielder tends to play a deeper role when playing for his club however Clarke has utilised his attacking ability pushing him higher up the pitch and he’s contributed to 13 goals in 33 appearances for Scotland.

The goalkeeper debate could be a tough one for Steve Clarke with both David Marshall and Craig Gordon performing well against the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Both vastly experienced, Marshall looks more likely to get the nod in goal but Gordon will most likely feature in at least one of the three group matches.

The toughest opponents in the group are without a shadow of a doubt England. Dubbed as one of the potential favourites to win the tournament, the Three Lions will be looking to go all the way in the competition but with the history of this fixture, it will be by no means a simple task for Gareth Southgate’s side.

Overall, it has been a phenomenal journey for Scotland finally making it back to the top of the international stage and no Scot from all over the country, football fans or not, want this journey to come to an end. This is just the beginning.

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