Scotland: World Cup 2022 draw pairs Scots with Denmark, Austria, Israel, Faroe Islands & Moldova
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Scots 'happy but wary' after World Cup qualifying draw - Clarke
Scotland are "certainly not going to take anything for granted", says Steve Clarke after his side was drawn to face Denmark and Austria in their World Cup qualifying group.
The Scots emerged from pot three and also take on familiar foes Israel, Faroe Islands and Moldova in group F.
The Scots received a favourable draw, avoiding seven of the top Fifa ranked sides in pot one.
"Denmark and Austria deserve to be in pot one and pot two," said Clarke.
"Their recent record is good. Both strong teams, good players. We can expect a really tough time in the four matches against both countries. Israel we know inside out, it'll be nice to play them again.
"The trips to Faroe Islands and Moldova, being Scottish we have to be aware because we know that we're pretty good at getting tripped up in games that we're expected to win. We're certainly not going to take anything for granted."
The campaign to qualify for Qatar begins in March, with the tournament commencing in November 2022.
Scotland have not qualified for a World Cup campaign since France '98, but go into the forthcoming campaign high in confidence after ending the wait for an appearance at a major tournament by qualifying for Euro 2020 next summer.
Denmark, the group's top seeds, have not played Scotland in a competitive match since the World Cup in 1986, a match the Danes won 1-0 in Mexico. In contrast, Clarke's players have faced Israel five times in the past two years, including a penalty shootout victory to set up a Euro 2020 play-off final with Serbia.
"The supporters can get carried away, they're allowed to get carried away, they're allowed to be optimistic," Clarke told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.
"And the fact that they're optimistic means that we must have done some good things in recent matches.
"But inside the camp, the players, myself and my staff, we know Denmark, Austria and Israel are going to give us a really tough time in qualifying."
How does qualifying work?
A total of 55 European countries will be whittled down to 13 who go to Qatar.
The 55 are split split into 10 qualification groups - five of six teams and five of five. Only the group winners are guaranteed to progress, but three further spots are up for grabs.
The 10 runners-up join the two best Nations League winners who have not finished in the top two of their World Cup group. Those 12 teams are drawn into three play-off paths to determine the final three sides.
Scotland's hopes of a Nations League lifeline were extinguished by successive defeats by Slovakia and Israel last month, which allowed Czech Republic to clinch top spot.