Pat Nevin
Former Scotland winger on BBC Radio 5 Live

Declan Gallagher and John Fleck are the Scots missing out, along with Kieran Tierney.

Of course, Fleck had the misfortune to test positive for Covid-19 while at the Scotland training camp in Spain.

It's a bit rough having these 23-man match-day squads.

Scotland: Marshall, O'Donnell, Hendry, Hanley, Cooper, Robertson, McTominay, McGinn, Armstrong, Dykes, Christie.

Substitutes: Gordon, McLaughlin, McGregor, Adams, Taylor, Turnbull, Nisbet, Fraser, Patterson, Gilmour, Forrest, McKenna.

Czech Republic: Vaclik, Coufal, Boril, Celustka, Kalas, Soucek, Kral, Mosopust, Darida, Jankto, Schick.

Substitutes: Mandous, Kaderabek, Brabec, Barak, Holes, Krmencik, Sevcik, Zima, Hlozek, Vydra, Meteju, Pekhart.

Our radio broadcast of the big match is just getting under way and the TV coverage starts at 13:15 on BBC One.

Both will appear at the top of this page, so you don't need to go anywhere.

Scotland’s road to Qatar 2022, opened with draws against Austria and Israel before a stroll against the Faroes Islands.

Steve Clarke's side has lost just twice in the last 16 outings, with an unbeaten run stretched to five after a very promising 2-2 friendly draw with the Netherlands and a rather lacklustre 1-0 win against 10-man Luxembourg.

By the way, those two defeats came in Slovakia and Israel in the immediate aftermath of that emotionally draining play-off win in Serbia, when there may have been a few hangovers to contend with.

Image source, SNS

With Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela serving a 10-game ban for racially abusing Rangers' Glen Kamara during a Europa League match in March, the Czechs are without one of their main leaders in defence.

They were run ragged in a recent 4-0 friendly loss to Italy, although spirits were lifted by a 3-1 win over Albania last Tuesday.

In March, World Cup qualifying started with a big win in Estonia, a creditable home draw with Belgium and then a potentially damaging 1-0 defeat in Wales.

One fan outside the ground has just confidently told BBC Radio Scotland that his prediction for today is a 4-0 Scotland win - none of those pre-match nerves then!

We should add that bold proclamation was made before news of Tierney's absence.

A big blow for Scotland, with Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney missing.

That must be an injury.

Birthday boy Callum McGregor is on the bench, with Stuart Armstrong in midfield, while Ryan Christie is preferred to Che Adams as a foil for striker Lyndon Dykes.

There are only 12,000 fans allowed in today, but this lot are already making themselves heard.

The players have been out for a wee walk on the pitch and got a rousing cheer.

Image source, SNS

While we can't wait to get started, let's take a brief moment to spare a thought for those missing out.

Ryan Jack, Kenny McLean and Oli McBurnie all featured in the play-off final win over Serbia and are absent after picking up injuries.

McLean and McBurnie tucked away penalties in the nerve-shredding shoot-out, as did Leigh Griffiths, who did not make the cut, along with Callum Paterson.

Image source, SNS

It's been a team effort, but David Marshall was the man who applied the final touch - his fingertips securing a penalty shoot-out win over Serbia what seems like a lifetime ago.

Here's our ode to the Scotland number one...

Scotland actually equalled the Czechs total of 15 points in qualifying, the problem was that we played two more games in a larger group and came third – miles behind Belgium and Russia.

But along came the Nations League to save the day, with those dramatic penalty shoot-out wins over Israel and Serbia.

Jaroslav Silhavy has been head coach of the Czech Republic since 2018 and his side recovered from an opening 5-0 defeat away to England to qualify comfortably as group runners-up.

They avenged that heavy loss at Wembley with a 2-1 win in Plzen but did get beaten in Kosovo and Bulgaria.

Silhavy is a former defender who holds the record for number of red cards in the Czech league and he definitely has the look of someone it’s best not to cross. Still, I’d back Steve Clarke to come out on top in a stare down contest.

Image source, Gett

They know each other well but this the teams' first meeting in a major tournament.

While Scotland are making just a third appearance, the Czech Republic have appeared in all seven European Championship finals the nation has been eligible for.

Their best performance came on UK soil at Euro 96 – their first major tournament – as they reached the final, losing out to Oliver Bierhoff’s golden goal for Germany at Wembley. They reached the semi-finals eight years later when Milan Baros was the tournament’s top scorer.

Of course, they were part of Czechoslovakia when winning the 1976 finals thanks to that famous Antonin Panenka spot-kick.

Image source, Getty Images

So across the country, young fans are waiting in anticipation for today's game.

Lots of them will be in class, but many schools are allowing their pupils to take a special break and watch the game.

One of them is Hermitage Park Primary School in Edinburgh.

Faye Calder-Kelly is the headteacher and was joined on GMS this morning by pupils Holly, Ruaridh and Justin.

Ms Calder-Kelly said the children were "very persuasive" in a letter calling for the game to be shown in class.

Holly said: "I think it will be good for our health and wellbeing, because it'll be a good brain break."