Scotland on the brink of elimination
Tomasz Bidermann / Shutterstock.com
With four games gone in UEFA World Cup Qualifying Group F, Scotland cannot afford to drop any more points, if they are to make it to the 2018 World Cup Finals in Russia.
Scotland come into the match at home to Slovenia sitting fifth in the group and only the minnows of Malta are below them. With just 4 points to show from their four matches played, Gordon Strachan’s players must put in a good performance and claim maximum points from this match or face the fact they are out of contention for qualification.
Slovenia arrive in Glasgow in confident mood, following their 1-0 win in Malta. Having held England to a 0-0 draw in Ljubljana, defeated Slovakia and picked up a point in Lithuania, Sreko Katanec’s team are well placed in second position, just 2 points behind the group leaders, England.
Scotland have struggled recently in competitive qualifying games. During the Euro 2016 qualifying matches, they won only one of their last five group matches, losing to Germany and Georgia and being held by Republic of Ireland and Poland. The only victory came against Gibraltar and this qualifying campaign seems set for a similar pattern, with the only victory to date having come against lowly Malta.
The mood in the Scottish camp will not have improved following the 1-1 draw in a friendly match against Canada. This was a match Scotland were expected to win comfortably, especially as Canada, who are ranked 117th in the world, were fielding an under-strength team. However, Canada took the lead early in the game and Scotland, who were booed off by the home crowd, struggled to create chances.
Slovenia opted not to have a friendly prior to the match but all their last three matches have been friendly games. They defeated Finland 2-0 and were held by Saudi Arabia and Poland. Slovenia remain unbeaten in the group and have lost only one of their last nine competitive matches.
Scotland will be hoping to make the most of playing this match at home. They have lost only one of their last seven competitive home matches and that was a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Germany. Scotland had a good home defensive record entering the latter stages of Euro 2016 qualifying but that has changed recently and they have conceded 6 goals in their last three matches.
Slovenia are a team who tend to struggle on the road, unless they are playing one of the smaller nations. In their previous nine competitive games away from home, Slovenia have won three, which were against Lithuania, San Marino and Malta. Scotland will feel they are better than these teams.
However, Scotland are in such poor form and Slovenia will see this as a huge opportunity to grab a vital away win and consolidate their position in the group. As for Scotland, they need to win the match but at this stage, even a point would be a decent result.
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