The last time Scotland were in the World Cup was in 1998, but this past week Scotland did what many fans thought unimaginable, beating Denmark 4-2, securing their place for 2026.
After a poor performance against Belarus, and a loss against Greece in the past two qualifying matches, Scots did not have much confidence in their team. But when playing Denmark, the team played with both passion and confidence, scoring 3 incredibly dramatic goals of such high quality that many fans would argue they are some of the bests in the team’s history.
First, it was Scott McTominay—who not only scored in the third minute—but did so with a stunning overhead kick leaving fans speechless.
But Denmark hit back through a Rasmus Højlund penalty, and then after Lawrence Shankland had restored Scotland’s lead with an unmissable chance, Patrick Dorgu scored to peg Scotland back again.
Then, with the game tied at 2-2, both Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean scored shocking goals in extra time. Tierney scored the winner, making the score 3-2 with a powerful strike. Finally, in the 98th minute, with fans screaming for the referee to blow the whistle, McLean scored a goal from the halfway line, solidifying Scotland’s triumph over Denmark.
With such a performance from the Scots, and against the backdrop of previous poor performances, many question what exactly changed in Scotland’s tactics for them to win against Denmark. When asked about their win, Steve Clarke stated:
“I told them to remember how we felt after Ukraine and to bottle that feeling.”
After losing the play-offs in the 2022 World Cup against Ukraine, Scotland players channelled their feelings into this game – playing with a fiery passion, showing their team’s drive to make it into the world cup.
Scotland’s captain Andy Robertson added:
“The manager’s speech was unbelievable. He went into a little bit about his life and the lads were quite emotional. To do it for him, all the staff, all our families, it will go down as one of the greatest nights of our lives.”
Maybe it was Clarke’s speech that inspired the Scots to fight so hard and win the match, or perhaps just their pure will to win for their country and fans. Either way, Scotland’s success against Denmark will go down in history as one of the most remarkable World Cup qualifying matches, in Scottish history, and perhaps football in general.
Whether or not Scotland perform well in the World Cup is a problem for the upcoming months—but for now Scots are savouring this moment and celebrating a well-deserved win.
“Hampden Park, 2024” by Goodreg3 is marked with CC0 1.0.