How TWO points could see Scotland squeeze into Euro 2024
Steve Clarke has always stated that four points was the goal for his Scotland team to achieve history by reaching the knockout stage of a major tournament for the first time. And the national team manager will be completely focused on defeating Hungary in Stuttgart in their final Euro 2024 Group A game on Sunday night to reach that aim. But Scotland never does things the easy way, do they? What if they don’t score four points? Since UEFA extended the European Championships and opened up the knockout stage to the four best third-placed teams, three points have sufficed.
Unfortunately, Scotland cannot now reach three points because they have only one point from their first two games, a crushing defeat to hosts Germany followed by a valiant draw with Switzerland in Cologne. So, Scotland has three possible final point totals: If they lose to Magyars, they will have four, two, or one point. Victory would see them through, while failure would see them leave the tournament. But what if they drew and got two points? Surely two points would be insufficient to qualify. Actually, it might. However, the Tartan Army may face a long wait until all groups have finished their tasks. And if there is a nerve-racking method of doing it, Scotland.
In summary, if Scotland finishes with two points, they will require the third-place team in at least two of the other six groups to finish with the same total or less. Right now, there is promise on that front, with three opportunities. Without a question, GROUP B offers the finest opportunity.Croatia and Albania presently have one point each from the draw, and they play strong guns Italy and Spain in their section’s final game, which they are predicted to lose.
GROUP C provides another opportunity. Serbia is at the bottom with only one point and faces Denmark in their final game, while Slovenia is in third place with two points and will face England on Tuesday. The Three Lions will be odds-on to win, and Scotland will be hoping the Auld Enemy can do us a favor and knock Slovenia’s goal difference, which is currently at zero while Scotland is -4 (that’s where the Germany battering was a significant blow).
GROUP F is the one to have eyes on today. Czech Republic faces Georgia with both sides having lost their opening fixture. Therefore, a draw in that match in Hamburg is the outcome the Tartan Army will be praying for. That would leave them both on one point going into the final game where they face Turkey and Euro 2016 champions Portugal respectively. But those final games take place on Wednesday and could mean an agonising wait.But a victory for Scotland against Hungary would cut out any of the nerves and leading bookmaker Coral are seeing strong support from punters for Scotland to qualify for the last 16.
Steve Clarke’s side is 6/4 to reach the tournament’s knockout rounds, and 13/8 to defeat Hungary and record a victory that will likely be enough to advance them to the next level of the competition. “This is arguably Scotland’s biggest game for decades and patriotic punters are confident they can pick up the win against Hungary and qualify for the last 16 of the tournament,” John Hill, head of Coral, stated. “Hundreds of thousands of bets will be placed on the Scotland vs Hungary game and we expect over 95% of those will be for Scotland to prevail.”
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