Wales and Scotland on collision course
⮞potential winner-takes-all World Cup clash next March
⮞ukraine and Austria stand in way of all-british showdown
Scotland and Wales are on course to contest an all-british decider for one of the final places at next year’s
World Cup in Qatar. The home nations were first and second to be drawn from the seeded teams yesterday in Zurich to determine six European play-off matches for the last three remaining spots.
With both countries given home advantage and on the same play-off path, the draw sets up a potential winner-takes-all clash at Cardiff if they overcome their semi-final opponents. Scotland will host Ukraine in their semi-final on March 24, while Wales will face Austria.
The winners of those ties will then play one another in the final on March 29.
Scotland manager Steve Clarke dismissed any suggestions that a possible all-british derby could act as a distraction before the visit of Ukraine. “We always treat our immediate opponents with the utmost respect,” he said. “So, that’s what Ukraine will get. They will get all our respect.
“We certainly won’t be distracted by it. We will approach the game with a bit of humility and we’ll do as well as we can.
“Ukraine is up there with the toughest draw and then we know that Wales have done really well recently. It’s something for everyone to focus on and think about over the winter months and look forward to some good games.”
Wales manager Robert Page said his team would benefit from potentially two matches at home, and added he was happy to avoid a possible final against Italy or Portugal to secure passage to Qatar.
“If you had a wish, you’d want two home games,” said Page, whose side have not been beaten at home since November 2018 – a run of 16 matches.
“We had to work hard for one and we got the luck of the draw for the second one, so the incentive is there for us. We’ll have two packed houses. We’ve seen the impact supporters can have on us in the recent campaign.
“We’ve given ourselves a great opportunity, haven’t we? It’s all there to play for.
“I’m not going to lie, I had one eye on Portugal and Italy. You want to avoid, on paper, the better teams and they are fantastic teams.
“Seeing them both finish in second place was a shock, but it’s good they’ve got together in the same group.”
Asked if Wales fans could dare to dream of ending a 64-year wait to be at a World Cup, Page said: “Why not? Absolutely. That’s why we put all this work and effort into this campaign. Why can’t we dream? That’s what we are here for.”
Any all-british final would result in a long-awaited return to the World Cup for either country with
Scotland attempting to reach their first tournament in 24 years, while Wales have not qualified since 1958.
The home nations have previously clashed during qualifying stages for the World Cup but have never met in a play-off final.
In 1985, then Scotland manager Jock Stein collapsed and died following a group match in Cardiff when both teams were in contention for qualification.
With Wales needing a win and Scotland just requiring a draw, it was the Tartan Army celebrating at the final whistle after Davie Cooper’s penalty levelled the match at 1-1.
The result took Scotland to a playoff against Australia which they won 2-0, enabling jubilant Scots to book their tickets to Mexico.
Meanwhile, European champions Italy were drawn against North Macedonia, the lowest-ranked team in the play-offs with a world ranking of 67.
Italy, who failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, will have home advantage for that tie and would meet Portugal or Turkey in a potential heavyweight final clash.
“It could have been a little better,” Italy coach Roberto Mancini said. “As we would have gladly avoided them [Portugal], probably they, too, would have avoided us. We will have to play a great match [against North Macedonia], then we will see in the final.”
Failure to advance would be a significant blow for Italy, who have won the World Cup four times. It comes after the Azzurri were denied entry to the finals in 2018 after being knocked out by Sweden in the play-offs – the first time they had missed out on qualification in 60 years.
Russia will be at home to Poland in their play-off semi-final, with the winners then taking on Sweden or the Czech Republic in the third final.