Who can Scotland play in World Cup play-offs? Route to Qatar explained

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John Souttar and Che AdamsImage source, SNS
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Scotland will be seeded for the semi-final of the World Cup play-offs

Scotland had Hampden rocking on Monday evening, but next week the country will stop and hold its breath as the World Cup play-off draw takes place.

A thrilling 2-0 victory against Denmark secured a home semi-final and, as a seeded team, they will avoid big names like Portugal and Italy.

Steve Clarke's men will learn their fate at 16:00 GMT on Friday, 26 November, but amid the euphoria, there still lies 180 minutes - and possibly more shoot-out drama - between Scotland and football's greatest show in Qatar.

All of the European groups are now complete and we know the list of possible opponents.

Drum roll please...

Image source, BBC Sport
Image caption,

These nations are at home in the play-off semi-finals

Image source, BBC Sport
Image caption,

And these nations will be away

How does the draw work?

Scotland's semi-final against one of the non-seeds will be at Hampden on 24 or 25 March.

It's a one-off tie settled on the night.

The other half of Scotland's path will also be revealed at this month's ceremony - as will the venue for the final, another single game.

So, it's winners of A v B against winners of D v C with the three finals played on 28 or 29 March, which doesn't leave much time for travel arrangements and buying tickets.

The three teams left standing make it to the World Cup.

Big guns avoided... For now

Euro 2020 champions Italy, with four World Cup triumphs, failed to win their group, as did Euro 2016 winners Portugal.

While it's undoubtedly good news that those two are not coming to Hampden for a semi-final, it doesn't mean they go away.

With only three teams progressing, two heavyweights in the mix makes life very difficult for the rest.

Who do we want in the semi-final?

Scotland won't fear anyone at a packed out Hampden. Clarke's side were unbeaten at home in the qualifying group and made it six wins on the spin against Denmark, Euro 2020 semi-finalists and the nation ranked 10th best in the world by Fifa.

The team also has recent nerve-jangling play-off experience after getting past Israel and Serbia on penalties to reach the summer's Euros.

However, only North Macedonia are currently ranked below Scotland on the list of possible opponents.

Austria get a second chance via the Nations League and we took four points from six against them in this campaign.

The Czech Republic were 2-0 winners at Hampden in June as Scotland squandered chances in a disappointing Euros opener, but we beat them in Glasgow in October 2020.

Poland may have superstar striker Robert Lewandowski, but they have gone five games without a win against Scotland since 1990 - four of those were draws if you fancy more spot-kicks.

Ukraine might be another one for fans of penalties since they were draw specialists in this campaign, winning just two of their eight matches yet unbeaten in a group won by France.

And get this, Scotland and Turkey have never met. Not even in a friendly. The Turks had a stinker at the Euros and were held at home by Norway, Montenegro and Latvia on the road to Qatar, while they shipped six goals away to the Dutch after opening with a 4-2 win over the eventual group winners.

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