The group stage of the European qualification for the 2026 World Cup is closed and there ended up being a big surprise at the last minute, from the game that promised to be the most exciting of all, the Scotland-Denmark in Glasgow that closed the accounts of Group C. And it was the home team that celebrated, a 4-2 victory that guaranteed the return of “Tartan Army” to a final tournament 28 years later. It started with a spectacle, with Scott McTominay’s bicycle, ended with the drama of a goal in compensation, by Tierney, before the epilogue of a midfield goal by McLean. Scotland had not been in a World Cup since France 1998, Denmark with Hjulmand and Froholdt will have to face the uncertainty of play-off.
It was, in fact, the most exciting game of the night. At 3′, Hampden Park exploded with a work of art in the form of acrobatics by Scott McTominay. Ball into the box and the Napoli midfielder scored 1-0 with a spectacular bicycle kick. “Giant party”Tartan Army”, but the Scottish fans knew they still had 87 minutes of suffering, plus compensation, ahead of them.
Shortly after scoring the goal, the Scots retreated to the field, cornered in the last third of the field to defend themselves from Danish dynamite. The strategy worked until the end of the first half and during the first ten minutes of the second. Until Andy Robertson made a dangerous foul on Isaksen. There were doubts about whether it was inside the area and the referee went to see the images – it was close, but it was inside. And Rasmus Hojlund, Napoli’s striker, equalized.
Shortly afterwards, the Nordics were left playing with one less due to Kristensen’s expulsion for accumulating yellow cards. There was still about half an hour of play left at Rangers’ ground, but Denmark even looked comfortable in their resistance exercise. But in the 79th minute, Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland put Scotland ahead again and brought the madness back to Hampden Park. For a little while. Three minutes later, Manchester United winger Dorgu leveled the result and left Denmark with two feet in the World Cup of the Americas.
When everything seemed resolved, another twist. After a not very effective clearance from Hjulmand, Tierney caught the ball neatly and fired for 3-2. Scottish madness again and it would continue straight away. With Denmark attacking and with Kasper Schmeichel up front, McLean took a risk with a shot from midfield and was happy – 4-2 and a return to the biggest stage of world football that will have a lot of celebration in between.
In addition to Scotland and their spectacular victory in Glasgow, Belgium secured their place with a home win (7-0) against Liechtenstein and Spain formalized their presence with a draw (2-2) against Turkey, as did Switzerland against Kosovo (1-1).
A little more complicated was the qualification of Austria, which was at risk of going to play-offafter losing to Bosnia in Vienna, ending up drawing (1-1) and guaranteeing their place in the World Cup.
For those play-off March next year, which will qualify four more European teams, following Slovakia, Kosovo, Denmark, Ukraine, Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Bosnia, Italy, Wales, Albania and the Czech Republic.
