The Tartan Army will be busy this morning checking flights and deleting Donald Trump jokes from their phones as Scotland qualified for the 2026 World Cup following 98-minutes of high drama at Hampden last night.
In a game that had three wonder goals, a controversial penalty and a debatable sending off, twice Steve Clarke’s men took the lead but were pegged back before two late goals sent the fans into ecstasy.
Clarke made two changes to his starting line up with Scott McKenna and Lyndon Dykes replacing John Souttar and Che Adams.
Grant Hanley was due to have been on the bench, but Souttar picked up an injury during the warmup.
Within three minutes Hampden erupted when Scotland took the lead with one of the best goals ever seen in the old stadium.
Ben Gannon-Doak curled in a great cross and Scott McTominay, hanging in the air for an age, performs a sensational bicycle kick, sending the ball into the bottom left corner of the net leaving Kasper Schmeichel helpless.
The Danes then started to dominate possession without ceating any real chances.
In the 20th minute Gannon-Doak went down clutching his hamstring and was replaced by Kenny McLean.
Moments later Rasmus Hojlund had the ball in the net, but the referee ruled it out for a push on Aaron Hickey.
The Danes created chance after chance with Scotland content to hit on the break and the players went in at half time with the Scots 1-0 up,
Shortly after the restart Craig Gordon produced a fantastic save to deny Rasmus Hojlund.
A lengthy VAR check came after Andy Robertson brought down Isaksen on the edge of the area and the referee Szymon Marciniak awarded a penalty after checking the screen.
Hojlund sent Gordon the wrong way to equalise and silenced the Hampden crowd.
On the hour mark Rasmus Kristensen was shown a second yellow card for a foul on John McGinn.
Che Adams and Lawrence Shankland replaced Ryan Christie and Lyndon Dykes.
Despite the numerical advantage the Scots still found it difficult to win possession from the technically superior visitors.
Then with 12 minutes remaining Hampden errupted for the second time. Lewis Ferguson fired in corner to the front post. and it fell to Shankland who scored from close range.
But the joy was short lived because moments later. The Scots defence couldn’t clear their lines from another crossed ball. It drops to Dorgu, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
Adams and McGinn both went close as Scotland tried for a winner.
But in added time Scotland when seemed set to be condemned to the play-offs when the ball fell to substitute Kieren Tierney who curled a beauty past Celtic colleague Schmeichel.
The Danes through everything forward and the Tartan Army held their breath but with seconds remaining the ball fell to McLean who spotted Schmeichel off his line, and chipped him from the halfway line sparking mayhem.
The finals will be held in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
Scotland: Gordon; Hickey, Hanley, McKenna, Robertson; McGinn, Ferguson, McTominay, Christie, Gannon-Doak; Dykes
Substitutes: Kelly, Bain, Tierney, Irving, Adams, Hendry, Barron, Hirst, Shankland, Ralston, McLean
Denmark: Schmeichel; Kristensen, Andersen, Christensen, Dorgu; Isaksen, Hjulmand, Froholdt, Hojbjerg, Damsgaard; Hojlund
Substitutes: Hermansen, Jorgensen, Vestergaard, Hogsberg, Nartey, O’Riley, Eriksen, Bruun Larsen, Norgaard, Billing, Wind, Biereth
