Scotland need Wales win to avoid Euro 2016 ‘drop’

SCOTLAND desperately need a win against Wales this week because they are in danger of falling into the fifth pot of seeds for Euro 2016.

New manager Gordon Strachan targeted the France tournament as the next realistic chance of qualifying for a finals, after a dismal start to their World Cup campaign. The European Championships are expanding to 24 teams for the next tournament, and 52 nations will chase 23 places to join the hosts, with two teams from each group likely to automatically qualify and the third place teams to go into a play-off. The seeding pots will be formed on the basis of the Uefa national team co-efficients, finalised after the completion of 2014 World Cup qualification.

As things stand, Scotland sit in the middle of the Pot Four, but, unless they improve on their awful start in Group A, they could easily slip into the fifth pot with the likes of Moldova and Azerbaijan. And they need to move off the bottom of Group A with three points this week.