A few months after their “battle” in the Nations League playoffs and its great success national footballGreece and Scotland They are back in Glasgow’s “Hubden Park” for the World Cup qualifiers 2026 (21:45, Newsit.gr, Alpha).
Greece and Scotland participate in the 3rd World Cup qualifying group -along with Denmark and Belarus -and is currently separated by just one grade after two matches (National football is at -1).
The fate did so, with the match just a year after the loss of George Baldok, to whom Greek internationals want to devote the victory. “Every game since then we feel George being with us. It’s hard to answer George. Everyone is missing, he was a very good character and a friend. We will definitely play for him too,” Vangelis Pavlidis told a press conference.
Greece will face the same team that won with a 3-1 overall score in the Nations League ascension/relegation playoffs in March, losing their first 1-0 home match before securing a 3-0 win in the second, in the “Hubden Park”.
It was the first of four consecutive wins for Ivan Jovanovic’s national football in all competitions, in which they scored a total of 17 goals, scoring five of them in a 5-1 win over Belarus in the opening match of the third group last month.
However, Greece “landed” three days later, when it suffered a 3-0 defeat at home to Denmark for the second match, which left it in third place and a point behind both the Danes and the Scots. National football has been seeking to qualify for its first World Cup since 2014.
Scotland has been qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1988 and has begun unbeaten in the 2026 qualifiers, earning four points in the first two games away, against Denmark (0-0 in Copenhagen) and Belarus (2-0). Including a 4-0 friendly victory over Liechtenstein in June, Steve Clark’s team has kept their home intact in three consecutive matches for the first time since November 2021.
In the racing part, Panagiotis Retsos faces an injury to the groin and will lose both matches during the interruption of national teams this month, while Konstantinos Karetsas overcame a virus, traveled directly from Belgium to Scotland and is available.
Racing, Steve Clark faces a dilemma in the goalkeeper. 42 -year -old Craig Gordon has replaced his teammate in Harts, Zander Clark, in this month’s team, but is out of action since May, while Angus Gun – who kept his home against Denmark and Belarus – has not yet made his debut.
Possible compositions:
Scotland (Steve Clark): Gun – Ralston, South, MacKena, Robertson – Gilmur, McGin, Ferguson – Maktominei, Doak, Adams
Greece (Ivan Jovanovic): Tzolakis (Vlachodimos) – Vagiannidis, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Giannoulis (Tsimikas) – Kourbelis, Zafiris – Massouras, Konstalias (Bakassetas), Tzolis – Pavlidis
Referee: Esken Eskas (Norway)
Assistant: Jan Eric Engan, Isaak Elias Bassevkin (Norway)
4th: Mohamanda Usman Aslam (Norway)
VAR: Paul Van Bekel (Netherlands), Avar: Christopher Haggen (Norway)
The score in the 3rd group after 2 matches
Denmark 4 points (3-0 goals)
Scotland 4 points (2-0 goals)
Greece 3 points (5-4 goals)
Belarus 0 points (1-7 goals)
In the World Cup qualifiers, in the event of a tie, the criteria are…
Goal difference
Better attack
More points in the games between each other
Better difference difference between them
Better attack between them
Best of each other’s home attack
Fair Play Score
Draw
The Mission of Greece: Vlachodimos, Mandas, Tzolakis, Mavropanos, Hatzidiakos, Retsos, Koulierakis, Rota, Vagiannidis, Giannoulis, Tsimikas, Siopis, Zafiris, Mandalos, Kourbelis, Mouzakis
The tradition of the two teams’ matches
Four times the two groups have been confronted. Two wins each has each. In Greece he won 1-0 in Athens and lost with the same score in Glasgow for the Euro 1996 qualifiers. The two games followed last March for the Nations League playoffs, with Scotland 1-0 in Faliro, while the blue-white responded with 3-0 to Glasgow.