Scotland’s last chance saloon: Nations League final group games preview

By Euan Moore

Steve Clarke has announced his Scotland squad for the remaining two fixtures in the UEFA Nations League. The remaining fixtures include taking on Croatia at Hampden Park and an away trip to Warsaw to play Poland which wraps up the group.  

 Scotland currently sit 4th in Group 1 of League A having already suffered losses to Poland at Hampden, Croatia in Zagreb and Portugal in Lisbon. 

Despite these poor results, performances against a very well drilled Croatia side and an excellent point alongside defensive shut-out of a Portuguese outfit led by one of the greatest marksmen of all time in Cristiano Ronaldo have given the Tartan Army hope to cling onto regarding a change in form to end barren run of 10 matches without a win.  

The squad under Steve Clarke’s tenure has seen extraordinarily minor change, which include Cieran Slicker of Ipswich Town who is making his first appearance in the senior setup, Robby McCrorie who replaces the injured Angus Gunn, Jack Hendry returns after injury and Scott Mckenna gets rewarded for his fine start to the season for Las Palmas. 

Connor Barron’s’ start to life at Rangers sees him recalled, vice-captain John McGinn is fit again and retakes his place in the squad with Tommy Conway rounding up the 23-man squad with his 5 goals in 7 starts for Middlesbrough.  

Aston Villa midfielder playing for Scotland at EURO 2024.

Looking ahead to the two remaining fixtures of this campaign, Scotland take on Croatia at Hampden. The Croatians sit 2nd with 7 points from four games, and a win here would see them all but secure their place in the Nations League Playoffs.  

A win for Scotland would see them jump to four points, level with Poland providing they lose to Portugal. Which would send Scotland to Poland, level on points and needing to better the 2-3 result that Poland snatched at Hampden Park in September. Doing so, would put Scotland on seven points with a potential spot in the playoffs (providing Croatia lose against to Portugal as well.)  

In terms of injuries in the lead up to the clash with Croatia at Hampden, the hosts are without Che Adams who went off injured in Torino’s recent Seria A clash. The forward subsequently withdrew from the squad. The visitors will be without Ajax defender Josip Sutalo who started the reverse fixture in Zagreb a month ago.  

Poland will be without defensive duo Pawel Dawidowicz and Jakub Piotrowski for the Visit of Steve Clarkes men on Monday.