Scotland face Greece with World Cup statement on line as well as Nations League gain

It’s been four months since Scotland signed off for 2024 in dramatic fashion, with Andy Robertson’s injury-time header sealing a memorable 2-1 win over Poland in the Nations League.

That brought an end to the national team’s first group stage campaign in League A of UEFA’s newest tournament, with Scotland finishing third in a section that also included Croatia and Portugal.

It didn’t end the campaign altogether though, with that position putting Steve Clarke’s side in a play-off against a second-placed side from the tier below.

Thursday night brings the first leg of that play-off, with Greece the opposition who will hope to knock Scotland down a level and take their own place among the elite teams.

The teams will face each other in the decisive return leg at Hampden on Sunday, and after the final whistle, Scotland’s Nations League fate will be known.

National team boss Clarke has repeatedly spoken about the importance of playing against the best opposition possible – for development, confidence and the growth of the team, and he won’t underestimate the importance of coming out on top after the next two games.

Scotland’s League A credentials are going to be thoroughly tested by an in-form Greece team but the mission is clear: see off the threat and then forget about the competition until the draw for the 2026-27 Nations League comes around next year.

What Scotland won’t do, regardless of the outcome, is forget about Greece. The quest to end the national team’s long World Cup exile continues with the qualification campaign in the second half of this year, and Greece are one of the teams standing in Scotland’s way, along with Belarus and Denmark or Portugal.

Winning both games this week wouldn’t give Scotland anything towards qualifying for the North America World Cup but it would be a huge boost in confidence, as well as laying down a marker for the level of performance needed when the teams meet again in October.

Scotland, of course, are going into the play-offs while on the best run of results they’ve enjoyed in well over a year.

In the wake of a hugely disappointing Euros in Germany, the team started a tough League A campaign with decent performances but no points. Things improved immensely after the half-way point. A more than credible draw away to Portugal was followed by back-to-back wins over Croatia at Hampden and Poland in Warsaw.

Those results, and the exciting manner in which the Poland game finished, should have been enough to have the players in good spirits when they arrived in Glasgow for training on Monday, but there was also a freshness about the group.

There’s a bit of a new look to the squad Clarke has convened. While the core of the squad has plenty of experience, and there’s also the return of Kieran Tierney and Lewis Ferguson from injury, Clarke has also delivered excitement with a trio of new faces.

Motherwell’s Lennon Miller and Hearts forward James Wilson have made a huge impact for their clubs despite their age and have been brought in as potential stars of the future.

There’s also a “new signing” in the shape of George Hirst after the Ipswich Town striker, who played for England at youth level, completed the paperwork to switch his international allegiance and join the group.

Clarke has plenty of options as he plans for the double-header, and it will be fascinating to see what he considers is his strongest side from a squad that is only missing a couple of potential starters through injury.

Greece go into the game with an impressive home run to add to. They’ve only lost one of their last six home matches, and that was to England in November. Seven wins form their last ten games have the side believing they are on the up, and leapfrogging Scotland into the top division of the Nations League would be tangible proof of that.

They aren’t unfamiliar with opposition from this neck of the woods either. England were defeated at Wembley last year while the team also enjoyed recent home and away victories over Republic of Ireland.

Ivan Jovanovic’s squad perhaps doesn’t have the level of talent Scotland faced in their games against Croatia and Portugal but there’s a good level of player available to the manager.

Andy Robertson’s Liverpool left-back rival Kostas Tsimikas is one to watch, while fellow defender Dinos Mavropanos is a West Ham regular.

Club Brugge winger Christos Tsolis has starred for his club in the league and Champions League, while Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis has banged in 20 goals across domestic competition and the Champions League.

The team may be a distance off the heroes of the unlikely 2004 Euros triumph but Greece have belief they can start to make a mark on the European stage once again.

Only a play-off penalty shoot-out defeat to Georgia denied the team a place at Euro 2024, and the head-to-head record with England denied them automatic Nations League promotion.

It’s now down to Scotland to deliver a hat-trick of disappointments for an improving side, and take psychological advantage for the next meeting, when there’s even more at stake.