da bwin： Scotland face England this Saturday in one of the most iconic football fixtures in world football. With half the games in Group F of World Cup Qualifying complete, Gordon Strachan’s side sit perilously in fourth position, two points behind the play-off positions.
da dobrowin： However, a win over the ‘Auld Enemy’, as that Tartan Army like to put it, would be a massive statement and put them right back into contention to potentially sneak into that play-off spot.
It won’t be easy of course. England, for all their major tournament faults, are often one of the most consistent sides in qualification groups and are unbeaten so far in this campaign. In a match and atmosphere that will resemble a big club derby match, they’ll be motivated too.
Key to Scotland’s chances of a result are a core group of Celtic players who have taken domestic football by storm over the last season. Not only are they all full of confidence and in incredible form, they also have experience of UEFA Champions League football, which will be most similar to high stakes match-up at Hampden this Saturday.
Here are the three Hoops stars we think have it in them to shock England…
Kieran Tierney
Kieran Tierney is arguably the finest young Scottish talent of them all and has really emerged into a consistent and mature over the last 12 months under the guidance of Brendan Rodgers.
With three caps for Scotland recently, he’s fast becoming a trusted member of Gordon Strachan’s squad too and is expected to take up a position on the right side of the Scotland defence against England, just weeks after suffering a broken jaw in the Scottish Cup Final.
Not his traditional spot, Scotland just so happen to be blessed with two elite left-backs and Tierney has shown more versatility than Andy Robertson to adapt to the right wing.
He was in blistering form against Slovenia, showing the guts, passion and skill to be an stand-out at international level.
England will be the toughest test of his international career but he has what it takes to raise his game. Perhaps a great indicator of that is his performance against Manchester City in last season’s UEFA Champions League. He was in outrageous form that night at Celtic Park, second only to Moussa Dembele, and they were England’s best club team at the time having beat everyone they’d faced up to that point.
You wouldn’t put it past him to provide the assist to a goal that would shock England.
Stuart Armstrong
In his debut against Slovenia in Scotland’s last World Cup qualifier, Gordon Strachan described Stuart Armstrong’s performance as “the best Scotland debut I have ever seen”.
It was his clever play that set up the winner that night for Chris Martin to give Scotland a fighting chance of getting something out of this qualification group.
He possesses pace, skill, passing technique but perhaps most importantly he has the desire to commit to runs into the final third beyond the last line of defence.
His runs into the box for Celtic last season were a trademark of his game and he was been rewarded for his ambition, scoring an incredible 17 goals from central midfield in all competitions.
Armstrong gives Scotland something different in the middle of the park but also has the discipline to try and stop England playing themselves.
If Gordon Strachan’s side are going to get anything from the game, he’ll likely have had a fantastic match and been central to it.
Leigh Griffiths
Leigh Griffiths is still searching for his first ever Scotland goal and while he may not start against England this weekend, with Gordon Strachan seemingly always preferring the likes of Chris Martin, he’ll no doubt play an important cameo of the bench.
That off the bench role is something he’s had to endure at Celtic for the majority of Brendan Rodgers’ reign but to be fair to the striker, he’s worked hard and got on with his game. Despite limited play time he still scored 18 goals for the Hoops in all competitions last season, making him Scotland’s biggest pure goal threat.
He was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet against Slovenia, missing a couple of chances including an audacious effort that rattled the post.
As any Celtic fan will tell you, he loves the big occasion and although he has failed to net for Scotland in prior internationals, it would be typical of him to do it on the biggest stage.