Steve Clarke's side have been drawn against Greece in the Nations League play-offs; victory will see them retain their place in League A; ties will be played on March 20 and 23 2025; Scotland will play the second leg at Hampden Park
Friday 22 November 2024 19:16, UK
Scotland have been drawn against Greece in the Nations League play-offs as they bid to retain their place in Group A.
As the seeded side, Scotland will travel to Greece for the first leg on March 20 next year, with the return fixture at Hampden Parkthree days later.
Scotland avoided automatic relegation from the top tier when Andy Robertson headed a stoppage-time winner against Poland on Monday.
Despite a 2-1 victory at Wembley, Greece ended as runners-up in Group B2 behind England, who responded with an impressive 3-0 win in Athens before seeing off the Republic of Ireland 5-0.
Greece's only other defeats in the past two years have been against France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Scotland have only played Greece twice, which both came during qualifying for Euro 96, with the Hampden encounter seeing Ally McCoist head the only goal which was enough to secure a place in the finals.
Speaking to the Scottish FA, Clarke said: "Greece have shown in the Nations League campaign that they are a quality team.
"These will be really competitive games in March but ones we will look forward to ahead of our World Cup qualifying.
"We had a strong ending to our Nations League campaign, with positive results against teams established at the top level.
"The challenge now will be to continue the momentum we built in the autumn into this play-off tie and our World Cup qualification campaign next year."
Greece vs Scotland
Turkey vs Hungary
Ukraine vs Belgium
Austria vs Serbia
Former Scotland forward Steven Naismith on Sky Sports News:
"I think the criticism after the Euros was not welcome. I don't think it was justified.
"There's disappointment there but since the manager's came in, the trajectory has been always an upward curve.
"There's going to be wee dips and there's going to be transition moments. I think we went through that but the one thing - knowing him well - is his focus, his determination, his understanding of international football and understanding of moments has been key.
"I think he's the best person for us to be the leader, be continuing this journey and I think we've got to just appreciate how well it has been.
"This next group and the ones coming into the squad will grow, and I'm sure he'll have his sights on that World Cup spot.
"Going into the top-seeded groups was always going to be tough. Their level goes up and, as the manager said in the past, the consistency and the more you're there, the more comfortable you are in it.
"So I think overall it'll be a successful kind of group. Off to a difficult start but the performances were decent.
"I don't think we got what we deserved in the early games and with the squad transitioning slightly as well with the amount of changes, the guys coming in with less caps.
"We've navigated that first bit well and we've finished it off with some really good performances and some character wins, in the last two performances especially."
