The oldest rivalry in international football continues on the biggest stage tomorrow as Scotland take on England underneath the Wembley arch.
There will be more than 2,000 Scotland fans in attendance for the match which will be watched in the stadium by 25,000 supporters and millions across the world.
Scotland are aiming for the first points of the tournament following the 2-0 loss against Czech Republic at Hampden. England meanwhile are back at Wembley for the second time in the competition after a Raheem Sterling goal secured a 1-0 win over Croatia on Sunday.
After missing out on the opening match against Czech Republic, Kieran Tierney has returned to training this week and will be aiming to be fit for the match.
In England’s camp, Dean Henderson has been ruled out of the tournament through injury and will be replaced by Sheffield United goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Leigh Griffiths was the hero the last time the two sides met. His two free-kicks will live long in the memory in the 2-2 draw at Hampden Park where a last gasp Harry Kane goal broke Scottish hearts.
In the 114 times Scotland have faced England they have won 41 times, drawing on 25 occasions.
Speaking at the squad’s training camp near Darlington John McGinn said: “The gaffer gave us 24 hours after the game. The result went against us but as I said post-match we can either sulk about it or roll up our sleeves and get on with it. The task remains the same and that’s what we will be focussing on.
“I am looking forward to it. The training has been good; everyone’s in a positive frame of mind. We know the task is to get out of this group and on Friday we have another opportunity. It’s an exciting game on Friday; I just wish we could play it now.
“For us the main message is to treat it like any other game. If we play with too much emotion and passion it may end up going against us or end up with ten men on the park.
“A lot of us have played in big games at Wembley and experienced it before, so we’ll be passing on our experience and we won’t be fazed, not one bit. Going down there we’ve all had experience of big games in Scotland and England, so we’ll be ready for Friday and hopefully get a better result than we did on Monday.
“I think we’ll always be underdogs whether we won on Monday or not. They’ve got a population of 55 million; we’ve got a population of 5 million. They’ve got superstars throughout their squad, so we’re always going to be underdogs, but hopefully it will suit us and we’ve got a few superstars of our own.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
