The Nations League has not been particularly fruitful for Scotland this time around and the Scots find themselves experiencing something of a poor run of form. The most recent break for the international games did see Scotland get an impressive 0-0 result against Portugal (with Ronaldo playing) but a win is still elusive for the Scottish team.
Plenty of people are doing their research as they may head to a bet casino brand to place a bet on the games that are coming up. The Nations League games require a bit more research from people looking to bet due to the fact that a lot of the players may be playing in leagues they are not familiar with. Some forms of betting such as online slots don’t require a great deal of research but fixtures in international football can be research intensive.
Scotland’s disappointment in the Nations League
Scotland have yet to win in the Nations League and continue to disappoint in terms of getting that elusive win. After a Euros performance that was also disappointing for the team, there has even been some criticism of Steve Clarke, the manager.
Scotland have just one point from what is an admittedly tough group, but this could be even more upsetting for the team as a leaked FIFA document suggests that the seedings could be based more heavily on Nations League performance when it comes to the World Cup.
Scotland had the opportunity to finish in Pot 1, according to the document, if they had finished second in their group. Third and fourth place don’t seem to have a huge level of difference in them.
World Cup qualification and the fixtures before the tournament won’t be confirmed until after the Nations League quarterfinals are played in March.
The leaked document supposedly said that: “To draw the 12 groups of four and five teams each, five draw pots will be formed. Pots 1 to 4 will each contain 12 teams and the remaining seven teams will be in Pot 5.”
Scotland could well have achieved more in the games so far, but finishing ahead of Croatia or Portugal would be a big ask. Both international sides have a lot of talent and have had recent successes in big tournaments. But Scotland started with a whimper and the results against teams like Hungary recently have not helped.
It is easy to forget that Scotland were just minutes from a point against Poland, the team in their group they would arguably have the best chance of beating. A last-gasp penalty was all that separated the teams.
There aren’t many fans who would think that Scotland would be running away with this group, of course. It was always going to be a challenge, but with more spaces up for grabs at the coming international tournaments, Scotland want to be at every tournament, if they possibly can. There are some new faces in the team this year but there is not too much time for them to gel and become a cohesive unit.
It is undeniable that the team has been unlucky with injuries. This doesn’t help when trying to get points on the board in international fixtures. John McGinn, Angus Gunn, Kieran Tierney, Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson could all be considered key players in the Scottish team, but all have been unavailable. Only some of these players have a chance of being back for the next games.
The upcoming fixtures
Scotland’s remaining fixtures are against Croatia and Poland. The Croatian team will be expecting to grab promotion and qualification in their next group of fixtures, while the Poland team may not have the same opportunity.
What can Scotland expect? Well, second place is still mathematically possible and it isn’t in the Scottish DNA to give up and not try to achieve this. With a few players back in the fold, who knows what they may be able to do.
However, the rest of this campaign could be more about stopping the rot. Scotland will have a pretty good chance to qualify for the World Cup through other means, especially when there’s a full squad of players to choose from.
After the Croatia heartbreak, Scotland will be looking to try and get an element of revenge when they invite the Croatian team to Hampden Park. Croatia has some class throughout the squad but with ageing stars like Modrić and Perišić, it is possible that Scotland will be able to win these games with more in the way of legs in midfield. The likes of McTominay are tireless workers and could definitely provide a route to beat the Croatia team on a good day.
Three days later, Scotland travel to face a Poland team that are also in some patchy form. Poland also have some star players, including Robert Lewandowski, who are entering the twilight of their careers. The Scots may fancy their chances of a result. Qualification through the Nations League may be unlikely but if the Scots can get a result against Croatia, they will go into the Poland fixture with a totally different outlook. The games will be played on the 15th and 18th of November.
Watching the games
Watching these matches has been a challenge. Viaplay held the rights in the UK initially but due to scaling back of their operations, the games aren’t being televised on a mainstream channel. However, people can watch the upcoming games on a live stream on the YouTube channel for Viaplay.
It is perhaps unfortunate that these games haven’t been made available to watch on terrestrial channels, and shows some of the attitude toward Nations League games, but this tournament does offer a way to qualify for the bigger tournaments and should be taken seriously.
Conclusion
This is a Scotland team that has achieved a lot in recent years but is struggling to find the winning edge at the moment. With a World Cup on the horizon, two positive results in these fixtures would allow the fans to feel a lot better about the current scenario and build some optimism among Scottish football fans.
