Scotland Men's Football Team

Scotland will go to the men's World Cup for the first time in 28 years after two stoppage-time goals on an astonishing night of drama sunk group favourites Denmark at a bouncing Hampden Park.

Read Amy Canavan's match report in full here.

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Scotland head coach Steve Clarke tells BBC Scotland: "Really simple - what a fantastic group of players. Unbelievable.

"I've said it from the very start of my time. It took me a year, maybe 18 months, to work out the best way to go forward. If I give myself a bit of credit, I chose the right way.

"We chose more caps, more experience. When you come to a night like this, when you're behind and struggling, and not sure it's going to happen, I trust my players.

"I've told them so many times, I trust them implicitly.

"I woke up this morning, and as a manager you normally wake up with that tight feeling in your stomach. I didn't have it this morning, and I thought 'wow, that's strange.

"I thought there was something wrong with me! But it's because I trust my players so much."

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Steve Clarke's "message of calmness" can help Scotland triumph in tonight's winner-takes-all World Cup qualifying showdown with Denmark.

That's the verdict of 26-cap right-back Stephen O'Donnell, who played all three Scotland games at Euro 2000 under Clarke.

"I'm excited for a night that could create a lot of history, 27 years, it's been a long, long time," O'Donnell told BBC Radio Scotland.

"You look through Denmark's team, the strength in depth they have of top quality players is maybe a wee bit better than ours, but on any given night we can perform, we can step up, we have enough quality.

"The majority of Clarke's success comes from being calm. After the Belarus game he lost it a wee bit, he got a bit more aggressive, but on the whole he stays calm and consistent which gives the players the message of calmness and allows them to go out and perform the best.

"We have enough quality to cause Denmark problems, it's going be tough but I think we can win and we will be at the World Cup."

Former Rangers striker and Denmark international Peter Løvenkrands, however, believes the pressure is all on Scotland tonight at Hampden.

The Scots need to win to top the group, while a point will suffice for the Danes.

"The game is going to be absolutely electric," said Lovenkrands.

"I always feel like it's Scotland who play themselves down. Look at the teamsheet of Scotland, you've got a Balon d'Or nominee in Scott McTominay, captain of Aston Villa [John McGinn] playing, Andy Robertson of Liverpool.

"You've got top, top players in that team but it always seems to be played down as 'we're the underdogs' even though they've got a fantastic team.

"I'm expecting to Scotland to come guns blazing in the beginning, with the home crowd behind them to try and get an early goal.

"If Denmark gets into the flow and starts playing, creating chances, getting confidence, they could put Scotland on the back foot.

"Scotland has not played particularly well in the qualifiers at all, so I think the pressure is more on Scotland than it is on Denmark to perform tonight and that'll probably play into Denmark's hands."

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"It's losable - but it's most definitely winnable."

It all comes down to this. Scotland stand on the brink of reaching a first World Cup this century.

Victory over Denmark at a packed Hampden tonight will complete the job, ending 27 years of hurt and making legends of Steve Clarke and his players.

Forget that there's a play-off parachute should Scotland fail to win. A nation craves victory - and former midfielder Scott Allan has urged a sharpness in both boxes that wasn't always there in the chaotic 3-2 defeat by Greece in Athens three days ago.

"We will create chances to win the game so it's whether we take them, and that's going to be key," Allan on the BBC's Scottish football podcast.

"And then ultimately you've got to defend your box well. It's as simple as that. We go through tactics but man for man, player for player, win your individual battles and then when you have moments to show quality you have to show it.

"It's losable - but it's most definitely winnable. There's a good few Scotland players playing at high, high level. They have to be ready for this tonight because we're not going to get a better opportunity and that's why it's so exciting for us.

"It's one of these nights where these [big] players, Andy Robertson, John McGinn, Ryan Christie, Craig Gordon, are going to get the result. I think they are going to produce something for us tonight, I'm saying we're going to do it."

The Danes, of course, could have already wrapped up top spot, but instead head to Hampden on the back of a scarcely-believable 2-2 draw at home to Belarus.

"They could have made this trip to Glasgow a jaunt for them," says Michael Grant, Scottish football correspondent for The Times.

"Instead, they're going to come into this cauldron at Hampden. Now, they may handle it. Italy handled it in 2007 [securing Euro 2008 qualification at Scotland's expense].

"This Danish team is not as strong as that Italy team. We've tended to fail these tests in the past, but it is slightly different. This isn't to earn a play-off, this is to go straight to the World Cup.

"It's a home game against a strong team, but not an elite team. It's not France, Spain or Italy. And they've shown a little bit of vulnerability themselves."

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• Victory for Scotland will mean they qualify for their first World Cup finals since 1998.

• Scotland have lost just one of their past five matches against Denmark, winning three, having lost five in a row beforehand between 1986 and 2004.

• Denmark have lost seven of their nine away matches against Scotland (winning two), including the past three in a row. Their two wins were 1-0 victories in friendlies in March 1998 and August 2002, meaning they have lost all four competitive visits.

• Scotland have won 10 of their past 14 home World Cup qualifiers, including winning six of their past seven, losing just once.

• Denmark have won 10 of their past 11 away World Cup qualifiers, winning seven without conceding a goal, with Scotland being the only side to beat them, 2-0 in November 2021.

• Scotland have scored two or more goals in their past four matches (nine goals), last having a longer run between March and September 2023 when they netted multiple goals in five consecutive Euro 2024 qualifiers.

• Denmark had 35 shots in their 2-2 draw with Belarus on Saturday, their most on record in a competitive international fixture (since 2006) – 11 of them coming in the final 10 minutes.

• Skipper Andy Robertson has created the most chances (10) for Scotland in World Cup 2026 qualification, assisting in his past two. The last player to assist in three straight competitive outings for the Scots was Ryan Fraser between November 2018 and March 2019.

• Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund (with four) is the only player to have scored more goals in Group C of World Cup 2026 qualification than team-mate Mikkel Damsgaard (three), who has scored in three of his past four international appearances after going 25 straight outings without netting.