Key events
4 min: That was a crisp little move down the left, and Scotland continue to start in a confident manner, giving Poland no time on the ball while knocking it around neatly themselves. More of this, please.
2 min: Dykes pings a pass down the left for McTominay, who strides into space. McTominay tries to return the ball with a low raking cross, but Dykes hasn’t been able to keep up with play. Poland’s new keeper Bułka ushers the ball through his six-yard area and away.
Scotland kick off. McLean gets the ball rolling. Hampden roaring now!
The teams are out! As the players emerge from the tunnel, a sell-out Hampden doesn’t exactly roar – not yet, anyway – but the applause is warm and sustained. Scotland in blue with yellow flashes, Poland in second-choice red. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes, after handshakes, coin tosses, pennant swapping, and patriotic music in the folk idiom.
Scotland captain Andy Robertson will make his 75th appearance in dark blue tonight. He’ll become only the seventh man to reach that milestone. Here’s where he currently sits in the pantheon … with John McGinn not too far behind him.
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Kenny Dalglish (102 caps, 30 goals)
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Jim Leighton (91 caps)
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Darren Fletcher (80 caps, five goals)
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Alex McLeish (77 caps)
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Paul McStay (76 caps, nine goals)
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Craig Gordon (75 caps)
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Andrew Robertson (74 caps, three goals)
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Tom Boyd (72 caps, one goal)
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John McGinn (69 caps, 18 goals), Kenny Miller (69 caps, 18 goals), David Weir (69 caps, one goal)
Wojciech Szczęsny, formerly of Arsenal and Brentford, has retired, so Marcin Bułka of Nice takes his spot in the Polish goal. Michał Probierz’s starting XI features a couple of Premier League stars in Arsenal’s Jakub Kiwior and Southampton’s Jan Bednarek, while Jakub Moder of Brighton is on the bench. Robert Lewandowski, 36 and fighting fit, will start the match looking for his 84th goal in his 153rd appearance for his country.
Never change, Steve Clarke. And he’s not going to. Not really. There are no debutants in tonight’s Scotland starting XI, with just three changes to the team that started the 2-1 defeat against Hungary at Euro 2024. Calum McGregor has retired, while Che Adams and Jack Hendry are injured, so in come Lyndon Dykes, Ryan Christie and Kenny McLean. Five players sit on the bench hoping to make their debut: Josh Doig, Max Johnston, Connor Barron, Ben Doak and – this may make you feel old – Scotland’s one-time wonderkid and mooted answer to Lionel Messi, Ryan Gauld, who is now 28. Hey, he’s been waiting for over a decade, what’s another 60-odd minutes before he finally gets a run-out?
The teams
Preamble
Ah the vagaries of form, fixtures and fortune. Scotland embark on a top-tier Nations League campaign for the first time, promoted to League A as part of a fine run during 2022 and 2023 that included statement victories over Ukraine, Norway and Spain. Meanwhile the auld enemy England were getting gubbed four at home by Hungary en route to relegation to League B.
Those days are past now. England went on to make the final of Euro 2024, Spain won the whole thing, and Hungary sent Steve Clarke’s men homeward tae think again. No point poking at old wounds, other than to wonder if Scotland can rise now and be … OK, let’s stop that. But the team really does need to get back on the horse after the hopes of 2022 and 2023 were so systematically crushed in Germany, having lost seven and drawn four of their last 12 matches, their only win coming against Gibraltar, and a throughly underwhelming 2-0 at that. Possible debuts for Ryan Gauld and Ben Doak could get Hampden roaring again. Poland, who also endured a miserable Euros but can still boast Robert Lewandowski, and have never lost a competitive fixture against the Scots, stand in their way. Kick-off is at 7.45pm BST. It’s on!
