Scotland stay in contention for 2026 World Cup, while Dutch move closer

PARIS – Scotland coach Steve Clarke was angered by his side’s “poor” performance as they ground out a 2-1 home win over Belarus on Oct 12 to stay in contention for automatic qualification to the 2026 World Cup.

Elsewhere, the Netherlands closed in on securing their berth at the tournament in North America with a win over Finland.

Clarke’s Scotland sit joint-top of Group C on 10 points with Denmark, after the Danes beat Greece 3-1 with Rasmus Hojlund opening the scoring for the home team in Copenhagen.

Denmark are first in the pool on goal difference, but their win ensured Scotland of at least a play-off spot as they bid to make a first World Cup appearance since 1998.

The table-toppers meet in the final qualification matchday on Nov 18 in Glasgow.

“We know every game from now until the end is so important,” midfielder Scott McTominay told BBC Scotland after defeating Belarus.

“It’s been good in terms of points picked up, but we know we’ve got to be better than what we’ve shown – everybody does, me included. We’ve got to be at a higher standard than this.”

Clarke did not mince his words.

“If you’d said at the start of this camp we’d come out with six points, everyone would’ve been really happy,” he said. “But I have to be honest. Tonight I was really, really disappointed in my team.

“I don’t think we got anywhere near the levels we can and that was really disappointing.

“We’ve come out with the three points, so that’s one small crumb of comfort but the rest of it is a bit of a head-scratcher (as to) why we were so poor.”

Che Adams scored the opener for the hosts on the quarter-hour at Hampden Park in an otherwise uninspiring performance by Scotland.

They thought they were due a penalty just shy of the hour for a succession of incidents in the Belarus box, including two calls for a foul and hand-ball shouts going both ways, but after a lengthy video assistant referee (VAR) review, the referee declined the home side’s appeals.

Scotland then had VAR to thank on 63 minutes, when Evgeni Malashevich’s effort was eventually disallowed for a foul on Napoli’s Serie A winner McTominay in the build-up.

In a busy sequence for the VAR officials, Adams put the ball into the Belarus net for a second time in the 70th minute, but video replays confirmed the original on-field decision that the Torino man was offside.

McTominay eventually sealed an important victory for Scotland as he lashed home with his left foot with six minutes remaining.

Belarus punished poor Scotland defending deep in injury time as Gleb Kuchko found the net, but it was too little, too late for the visitors as the Scots clung on to boos from their own fans.

Meanwhile, Donyell Malen, Virgil van Dijk, Memphis Depay and Cody Gakpo all found the net as the Dutch maintained their three-point lead at the summit of Group G with a 4-0 defeat of Finland at home.

Poland remain on the Netherlands’ heels following a 2-0 win in Lithuania, where Robert Lewandowski netted his 87th international goal.

Faroe Islands continued their excellent form in Group L as they stunned the Czech Republic in Torshavn, winning 2-1.

Martin Agnarsson grabbed the winner on 81 minutes, just shortly after Adam Karabec had seemed to spare Czech blushes when he cancelled out the hosts’ 67th-minute opener.

Faroe Islands, whose population is only about 55,000, now sit one point behind their second-placed opponents with four wins from seven outings.

Croatia, World Cup runners-up in 2018, are three points ahead of the Czech Republic after an unconvincing 3-0 home win against Gibraltar.

In Group H, Cyprus won 4-0 in San Marino in the day’s first kick-off, while Romania beat pool-leaders Austria 1-0 courtesy of a 95th-minute winner by Virgil Ghita.

The Austrians now sit two points ahead of second-placed Bosnia and Herzegovina after their first defeat of the campaign. AFP