Scots kick off World Cup bid against Austria at Hampden
SCOTLAND’S road to the World Cup in Qatar 2022 begins with a March triple-header kicked off by the visit of Austria to Hampden.
Avoiding big guns like Belgium, England, France and Spain in Monday’s favourable draw, the Scots were paired with Denmark, Austria, Israel, the Faroe Islands and Moldova in Group F.
The second-seeded Austrians are in Glasgow on Thursday, March 25, before Steve Clarke’s side head to Israel three days later.
The triple header concludes with the Faroe Islands at Hampden on Wednesday, March 31.
Next up is a triple-header that starts with a visit to take on top-seeds Denmark on Wednesday, September 1. Moldova are at Hampden t hree days l ater t hen Austria host the Scots on Tuesday, September 7.
Scotland t hen play Israel in Glasgow on Saturday, October 9 before heading to the Faroe Islands three days later.
Group F concludes for Scotland with a visit to Moldova on Friday, November 12 before the Scots r ound off their qualifiers by hosting Denmark three days later.
The t en group winners qualif y directly f or t he World Cup, with the ten runners-up joining the two best Nations League group winners to play off f or the remaining places in Qatar.
Clarke (above) has already steered Scotland to next summer’s rescheduled Euro 2020 — the nation’s first major finals since the World Cup in France 1998.
Speaking after the World Cup draw, the Scotland head coach said: ‘Is it time to believe now we have reached a tournament again? I’d like to think that will be the case.
‘Hopefully the players realise how good it feels to qualify for a major tournament and they will attack and relish the World Cup campaign the same as they did in the Euro 2020 play-offs.’
Hosts Qatar have been parachuted i nto European World Cup qualifying Group A and will play friendly matches against whichever team has a free date on a given matchday in a bid to get them ready for the tournament.
They will play their home matches in Europe against fellow Group A teams Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.