Sports Mole previews Thursday’s 2026 World Cup qualifier between Scotland and Greece, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
After locking horns in the UEFA Nations League earlier this year, Scotland and Greece renew acquaintances at Hampden Park in 2026 World Cup qualifying on Thursday night.
The two nations are joined in Group C by Denmark and Belarus, and they are currently separated by just one point after two matches.
Match preview
Scotland are bidding to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1988 and they have made an unbeaten start to 2026 qualifying, picking up four points from their opening two fixtures away against Denmark and Belarus last month.
After holding Denmark to a goalless stalemate on matchday one, the Tartan Army eased to a routine 2-0 win in Belarus, courtesy of a first-half strike from Che Adams and a second-half own goal. Including a 4-0 friendly win over Liechtenstein in June, Scotland have kept three successive clean sheets for the first time since November 2021.
By the end of this week, no men’s head coach will have taken charge of more Scotland matches than Steve Clarke, who will equal the late Craig Brown‘s record of 71 games on Thursday and will surpass that record when he leads his team out against Belarus next Monday.
Clarke has won 30, drawn 16 and lost 24 of his 70 matches (43% win rate) since taking the reins in 2019, while he also boasts a 55% success rate with Scotland in major tournament qualifiers, celebrating 17 victories from 31 matches.
Ranked 43rd in the world by FIFA, Scotland can guarantee a playoff place in Group C with victories in their next two qualifiers against Greece and Belarus, but they are sure to be eyeing up automatic qualification as they currently sit joint top of the group along with Denmark, who they face in a potentially-pivotal final fixture on November 18.
Greece are preparing to face the same Scotland side that they beat 3-1 on aggregate in the promotion/relegation playoffs of the Nations League in March, losing the first leg 1-0 on home soil before securing a 3-0 second-leg triumph at Hampden Park.
That victory for the Sky Blue and White was the first of four in a row across all competitions in which they scored a whopping 17 goals in total, netting five of those in a comprehensive 5-1 home win over Belarus in their opening Group C fixture in World Cup qualifying last month.
However, Greece were brought back down to earth just three days later when they suffered a 3-0 defeat at home to Denmark on matchday two, leaving Ivan Jovanovic’s side sitting third in Group C and one point behind both the Danes and Scotland who occupy the top-two positions.
Ranked 40th in the world by FIFA and seeking to qualify for their first World Cup since 2014, Greece will fancy their chances of success on Thursday, as they travel to Glasgow having won each of their last five international matches on the road, with the aforementioned three-goal win against Scotland seven months ago representing their most recent away victory.
Scotland World Cup qualifying form:
D W
Scotland form (all competitions):
W L L W D W
Greece World Cup qualifying form:
W L
Greece form (all competitions):
L W W W W L
Team News
Scotland boss Clarke is dealing with a goalkeeping dilemma; 42-year-old Craig Gordon has replaced Hearts teammate Zander Clark in this month’s squad, but he has been out of action since May, while Angus Gunn – who kept clean sheets against both Denmark and Belarus – is yet to make his debut for Nottingham Forest and Liam Kelly has played just once for Rangers.
Lawrence Shankland has scored seven goals for Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts this season, but he has been omitted from the Scotland squad, so strikers Lyndon Dykes and George Hirst are set to provide competition for Che Adams.
Oliver Burke, who netted a hat-trick for Union Berlin against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga earlier this month, has also been left out, while Clarke has revealed that Derby County’s Max Johnston misses out due to the return to fitness of Celtic right-back Anthony Ralston.
The likes of Scott McTominay, John McGinn, Andrew Robertson and Kieran Tierney are all in contention to start. 19-year-old Ben Gannon Doak is yet to start a league game for new club Bournemouth, but he is also pushing to feature in Scotland’s first XI.
As for Greece, Olympiacos defender Panagiotis Retsos is nursing a groin injury and will miss both fixtures during this month’s international break.
West Ham United’s Konstantinos Mavropanos is set to be partnered with Konstantinos Koulierakis at centre-back, while Roma loanee Kostas Tsimikas is expected to start at left-back.
Experienced captain Anastasios Bakasetas, who has made more appearances (77) and has scored more goals (18) than any other player in the current Greece squad, will be hoping to force his way back into the starting lineup and could operate in an advanced role behind central striker Vangelis Pavlidis, who has scored five goals in eight Primeira Liga games for Benfica this term.
Scotland possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Ralston, Souttar, McKenna, Robertson; McGinn, Gilmour, Ferguson; McTominay; Doak, Adams
Greece possible starting lineup:
Tzolakis; Vagiannidis, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Tsimikas; Zafeiris, Kourbelis; Karetsas, Bakasetas, Tzolis; Pavlidis
We say: Scotland 2-1 Greece
Greece may have won their last visit to Glasgow, but Scotland will be regarded as slight favourites on home soil this time around. Both nations have failed to scored in all of the previous four meetings, but we can see this run coming to an end on Thursday, with the hosts claiming maximum points by a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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