{"id":170449,"date":"2025-09-30T13:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T13:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/170449\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T13:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T13:22:11","slug":"scotland-craig-gordon-returns-for-world-cup-qualifiers-against-greece-and-belarus-zander-clark-dominic-hyam-max-johnston-out-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/170449\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland: Craig Gordon returns for World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Belarus | Zander Clark, Dominic Hyam, Max Johnston out | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Scotland head coach Steve Clarke has recalled goalkeeper Craig Gordon to his squad for October&#8217;s World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n<p>The 42-year-old &#8211; who last featured for Scotland in the Nations League play-off defeat to Greece &#8211; replaces his Hearts team-mate Zander Clark.<\/p>\n<p>Both players have struggled for minutes this season. Gordon has recently recovered from a neck injury, meaning he is yet to play for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/scottish-premier-table\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Scottish Premiership leaders<\/a>, while Clark has not featured since August.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skysports-clarke-steve-scotland_7036887.jpg\" alt=\"COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - SEPTEMBER 07: Scotland Head Coach Steve Clarke during a Scotland MD-1 training session at the FC Copenhagen Academy, on Septmber 07. 2025, in Copenhagen, Scotland. (Photo by Lars Moeller \/ SNS Group)\"  aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-poster\"\/><\/p>\n<p>              Scotland head coach Steve Clarke on his squad selection for the World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Belarus at Hampden Park<\/p>\n<p>Clarke&#8217;s other goalkeeping options are also short of game time at club level. Angus Gunn &#8211; who kept back-to-back clean sheets in Scotland&#8217;s opening two games &#8211; has not featured for Nottingham Forest this season. Meanwhile, Rangers&#8217; Liam Kelly has only played in one League Cup fixture.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skysports-gunn-gordon_7037006.jpg\"   alt=\"Angus Gunn (L) is currently Scotland No. 1 but now faces competition from the likes of Craig Gordon\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Angus Gunn (L) is currently Scotland No. 1 but now faces competition from the likes of Craig Gordon<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Celtic duo Kieran Tierney and Anthony Ralston are included in Clarke&#8217;s squad again &#8211; despite both dropping out ahead of the opening matches against Denmark and Belarus.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skysports-tierney-ralston-celtic_7037004.jpg\"   alt=\"Celtic full-backs Kieran Tierney (L) and Anthony Ralston both withdrew from the last camp due to injury\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Celtic full-backs Kieran Tierney (L) and Anthony Ralston both withdrew from the last camp due to injury<\/p>\n<p>However, fellow defenders Dominic Hyam and Max Johnston do not feature in a smaller 23-player squad for the games against Greece and Belarus at Hampden Park.<\/p>\n<p>It is a story of consistency for Clarke, who has picked the same midfield options that include the likes of Ben Gannon Doak, Serie A quartet Lewis Ferguson, Billy Gilmour, Scott McTominay and Lennon Miller, plus Aston Villa&#8217;s John McGinn, who is just one appearance away from earning his 80th cap.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skysports-gilmour-mctominay_7010491.jpg\"   alt=\"GLASGOW, SCOTLAND  - NOVEMBER 15: Scotland head coach Steve Clarke (centre) with Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay at full time during the UEFA Nations League 2024\/25 League A Group A1 match between Scotland and Croatia at Hampden Park, on November 15, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy \/ SNS Group)\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay have impressed together at Napoli<\/p>\n<p>While Gordon returns, his Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland misses out &#8211; despite scoring three goals in his last two appearances &#8211; with the same four strikers selected from the previous camp.<\/p>\n<p>Scotland squad in full:<\/p>\n<p>Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon (Hearts), Angus Gunn (Nottingham Forest), Liam Kelly (Rangers).<\/p>\n<p>Defenders: Grant Hanley (Hibernian), Jack Hendry (Al Etiffaq), Aaron Hickey (Brentford), Scott McKenna (Dinamo Zagreb), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Andy Robertson (Liverpool), John Souttar (Rangers), Kieran Tierney (Celtic).<\/p>\n<p>Midfielders: Ryan Christie (Bournemouth), Lewis Ferguson (Bologna), Ben Gannon Doak (Bournemouth), Billy Gilmour (Napoli), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Kenny McLean (Norwich), Scott McTominay (Napoli), Lennon Miller (Udinese).<\/p>\n<p>Forwards: Che Adams (Torino), Kieron Bowie (Hibernian), Lyndon Dykes (Birmingham), George Hirst (Ipswich).<\/p>\n<p>How the campaign started <\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skysports-che-adams-scotland_7014706.jpg\"   alt=\"Scotland's Che Adams celebrates scoring to make it 1-0 vs Belarus\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Che Adams scored as Scotland beat Belarus<\/p>\n<p>Scotland picked up four points from their opening two qualifiers ahead of this Hampden Park double-header, as Clarke bids to guide the men&#8217;s side to their first World Cup since 1998.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign started with a draw away to top-seeds Denmark, followed by a 2-0 win away to Belarus &#8211; results that leave Scotland level on points with the Danes at the top of Group C.<\/p>\n<p>It is certainly a sprint to the 2026 World Cup &#8211; with this squad being named just 22 days after Scotland&#8217;s last match. The game against Greece is just nine days away, with the Belarus game at Hampden Park three days later and the final group fixtures in mid-November.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/scotland-scores-fixtures\/2025-10-01\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scotland&#8217;s World Cup qualifiers<\/a>Greece (H) &#8211; October 9Belarus (H) &#8211; October 12Greece (A) &#8211; November 15Denmark (H) &#8211; November 18     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland head coach Steve Clarke has recalled goalkeeper Craig Gordon to his squad for October&#8217;s World Cup qualifiers.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-170449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}