Scotland stay in contention for World Cup, Dutch move closer

Scotland ground out a 2-1 home win over Belarus on Sunday to stay in contention for automatic qualification to the 2026 World Cup, while the Netherlands closed in on securing their berth at the tournament with a win over Finland.

“We know every game from now until the end is so important,” 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.”

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 VAR review the referee declined the home side’s appeals and awarded a free-kick out.

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

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 managed to seal 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 Hleb 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.

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 the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

Poland remain on the Netherlands’s 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, 120 seconds after Adam Karabec had seemed to spare Czech blushes when he cancelled out the hosts’s 67th-minute opener.

Faroe Islands 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 Hercegovina after their first defeat of the campaign.

Denmark beat Greece 3-1 at home on Sunday to keep their unbeaten World Cup qualification campaign on track and end the visitors’ hopes of reaching next year’s tournament, with the battle for Group C supremacy set to go down to the wire.

With two matches still to play, Denmark top the standings with 10 points, ahead of Scotland on goal difference. The two sides meet in their final fixture next month with the group winners earning automatic qualification for the tournament finals and the runners-up going into the playoffs.

Both the Danes and Scotland are guaranteed at least a playoff spot but Greece, who sit third with three points, have no hope of progressing.

“Overall, I don’t think we played our best game today,” Denmark midfielder Morten Hjulmand said.

“(The win is) the most important thing. It’s the three points. Sometimes you don’t reach the top level. I don’t think we did that today, but we won 3-1 against a strong team.”

Greece controlled possession early in the game, but in the 21st minute Rasmus Hojlund capitalised on a glaring mistake by Greek midfielder Christos Zafeiris, who tried to pass back to his goalkeeper but left the ball short, allowing the Napoli striker to score with a tap-in.

Agencies