Denmark 2-0 Scotland: How it happened - Wass and Maehle make sorry Scotland pay for first half failings

Scotland's coach Steve Clarke. (Photo by LEE SMITH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Scotland's coach Steve Clarke. (Photo by LEE SMITH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Scotland's coach Steve Clarke. (Photo by LEE SMITH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
A depleted Tartan Army is in Copenhagen for Scotland’s fourth World Cup qualifier ahead of Qatar next year.

A sprinkling of Scotland fans have been spotted around the Danish capital and Steve Clarke is also short in numbers. The national team doesn’t have his problems to seek with only 18 of his 26-man squad able to be in contention for tonight’s encounter.

The prospect facing them is tricky too. Denmark lead the qualifying section with nine points from three games and enter the game off the back of a Euro 2020 campaign which ended in a narrow elimination at the semi-final stage to England.

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The Scotsman will be at the heart of the action bringing you all the latest news from the squad base in Scandinavia, with Alan Pattullo in Copenhagen and all the pre-match build-up live match updates and best post-match analysis before the team head back home to face Moldova on Saturday.

Denmark 2-0 Scotland: FULL TIME

Key Events

  • DENMARK 2 (Wass 13, Maehle 15) SCOTLAND 0 (ht 2-0)
  • DENMARK: Schmeichel, Andersen, Kjaer, Christensen, Hojberg, Delaney, Maehle, Wass, Poulsen (Wind 67), Damsgaard, Skov Olsen.
  • SCOTLAND: Gordon, McKenna (Dykes 46), Hanley, Cooper, Tierney, Robertson, McGregor, McLean (Turnbull 84), Gilmour (Ferguson 90) , Adams (Christie 71), Fraser
  • Parken Stadium, Copenhagen. Kick off 7.45pm

Good evening and welcome to The Scotsman’s live blog bringing you all the updates and action from Scotland’s World Cup qualifying campaign, with the next episode coming up in Denmark.

It’s been a wee while - and quite a lot has happened - since the last fixtures in this section were played, so we’ll have little refresher before the build-up with the story so far.

This is the fourth matchday in Group F.

Scotland sit second with five points, four behind leaders Denmark who are Steve Clarke’s hosts tonight.

In between times there’s obviously been the Euros where the Danes performed particularly well before being edged out by England in the semi-final. Fellow group members Austria also performed better than Scotland, making it to the knock-out round and taking eventual winners Italy to extra-time.

But anyway, here’s how the previous three qualifiers went for Steve Clarke’s side back in March.

Scotland 2 Austria 2

Israel 1 Scotland 1

Scotland 4 Faroe Islands 0

Which brings us on to tonight.

This is the first of another international triple header - and Steve Clarke’s side are fairly racking up the air-miles.

Here’s what you need to know for the match in Copenhagen at 7.45pm tonight and how to watch it (if your signal drops and you can’t follow the blog, obviously)

Steve Clarke has some pretty severe selection issues to cope with.

Usually the strains on a squad comes from sprains, suspensions, knocks and injuries but throw in ‘pings’ and covid restrictions and the Scotland manager will be without John McGinn who has returned a positive test, and Nathan Patterson - unable to travel due to being deemed a close contact of someone who has tested positive. The Rangers defender will be back for the following two games though.

Stephen O’Donnell won’t make it for the Danish game and striker Kevin Nisbet has also picked up a knock in training.

From 26 players in the squad, only 18 are eligible tonight.

Here’s what the manager had to say ahead of the game

We have a strong team on the pitch and a good bench. We don’t have the full bench but we have more than enough to be competitive and get the result that we want.

Steve Clarke

Getty Images

Incase you missed it...

Lots of news has been happening away from the Scotland camp affecting Scottish football, naturally.

One story you might have missed but pretty noteworthy is the news on vaccine passports and the impact on the game in this country.

Back on topic and Scotsman football writer Alan Pattullo discussed the latest happenings from the squad’s base in Denmark earlier today.

International retirement

There has also been international news and a retirement for Scotland today.

Steve Clarke has already said his selection is limited to 18 players from his initial 26-man squad.

Alan Pattullo has given his update from Copenhagen and below, Craig Fowler predicts the team the manager will pick for tonight’s game.

Official announcement expected within an hour. (Remember no Nathan Patterson, John McGinn, Kevin Nesbit or Jack Hendry)

I feel better when things are against us, I feel we can manage to grind out results. There’s a chance of a draw in this, and I believe that.

Craig Levein, BBC Sportsound

We heard from Steve Clarke earlier, here’s what Liverpool defender and Scotland captain Andy Robertson had to say ahead of the game.

The team lines have sparked debate...

Craig Gordon captain of Hearts, Grant Hanley captain of Norwich, Liam Cooper captain of Leeds, Callum McGregor captain of Celtic, Andy Robertson captain of Scotland and Kenny McLean is kind of a leader. There’s a lot of guys there with a lot of experience, it’s just meshing that into a collective

Tom English, BBC Sportsound

What the fans said...

Here’s a selection of the social media comments showing the spectrum of opinion on Steve Clarke’s team line-up in Denmark.

The hosts’ XI is as follows....

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

⚠️ ONE HOUR UNTIL KICK-OFF ⚠️

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