tartanpar

FAs all round the world simply take money when it is on offer. Portugal and Italy are playing each other in Doha in June (after the qualifiers) to open a World Cup stadium. June!!! So if they can play in Qatar in June then surely they can't have any complaints playing the WC in June there in 2022. Slovenia are playing Qatar in Doha this March.

There are lots of dates in June for games with many teams looking to play upwards of two games.

Online story here. Use Google to translate from Arabic to English http://www.kooora.com/?n=378195

I would be astounded if we played Qatar in a friendly in June, especially at home. I imagine they would pay big big bucks to play teams in Doha but not away games. To play a team currently ranked 92nd in the world a month before the WC draw would be crazy (although it looks like the SFA/Strachan are not interested in what pot we will be in for the WC draw).

Do u have any links to that?

No problem. I expect up to 10,000 Poles for the game with Scotland in October.

The polish FA tweeted saying that tickets were on sale. I tweeted the Polish FA media officer and asked him what the allocation was. He replied saying 3000. Jakub Kwiatkowski ‏@KwiatkowskiKuba Jan 7 @robertblaszczak @scotlandstewart 3000 tickets are allocated for Polish fans

Poland have been allocated 3000 tickets priced at approx £42 (prob 50 euros) for their game with Ireland in March. I expect a similar allocation and price for us in June.

You know you will miss the Scotland game where we might qualify for our first finals since 1998?

The big teams (and some small) play that number of games anyway. It prob wont be much of an increase (if any) for them. The Group 1 teams will also have a play off for the Euros in March 2020 too. If they have all qualified already the place moves down a league.

Surely if money is a problem and you want to go to the game you would just buy the cheaper tickets (I did). You can get tickets right next to the North Stand (in the West) so the view is still good.

I think the prices were and still too high but if you are planning to go to all 4 games it is a good deal. I don't get the "it costs x to go and watch Gibraltar". Personally I have never went to a Scotland game to watch the opposition.

I think they will wait to appoint Mark Wotte's replacement before confirming the U21 manager.

I was meaning there are no really expensive long haul trips in the last 10 games (i.e. Japan or USA) and every game bar 1 anyone could have bought a ticket.

10 - 176 9 - 239 8 - 236 7 - 300 6 - 495 5 - 689 4 - 1075 3 - 1685 2 - 2563 1 - 9954 0 - 17320 Dont think it has ever been easier to get 10 points.

I think they have their own anthem (not certain though).

:ok:

A lot of teams will play on the Wednesday (25th) to give the extra day preperation for the Sunday game. The German game against Australia is on the Wednesday. I would be amazed if it was any other date other than the 25th or 26th of March.

Yip that is spot on. If those 4 teams fail to qualify via the Euro qualifiers they could all play again in march. No one will qualify via the nations league until after the Euro qualifiers have finished.

I asked a guy who works for UEFA on twitter earlier and this was his response: @ScotlandStewart @UEFA No - the highest-ranked teams in each semi are at home and the final venue will be drawn from the winners

I believe that is for the Final of the tournament which the League A teams will be play and not the play offs for the Euros. Even if it was it is a nightmare for travelling fans.

That is a very good explination of it all. There is only one small part that I am unsure of and I do not think it has been decided yet. The play offs will take place in March 2019, however, there is one problem for us fans... The semi final is a one off match (not home and away) and the home team will be decided by the higher ranked team but the final is also due to take place in March so unless there is a date in early March and late March (which is unlikely) the finalists will only be known 4 days before the game. That will be a nightmare for the travelling fans and the FAs to sell the tickets. Imagine a situation like this: Semi Final 1: Norway v Scotland - Thursday 21st of March Semi Final 2: Bulgaria v Albania - Friday 22nd of March Final: Winner of Semi 1 v Winner of Semi 2 - Tuesday 26th of March Venue to be drawn at random. It would only give fans 4 days to arrange travel to the final. Remember several thousand might be abroad at the semi final. I just cant see how this will work. The FIFA match calendar for 2020 is not out yet.

Remember this is done with UEFA rankings and not Fifa rankings. Uefa use the last 3 qualifying groups to determine rank and don't include friendlies. We are currently ranking high to mid 3rd group out of 4.

Between September 2018 and November 2019 Scotland will play a minimum of 12 games but could play 16 if we were drawn into the group of 4 in the Nations League & a group of 6 in the Qualifiers.

It would make your chances of qualifying from the normal qualifiers tougher though as they are using the same seeding for that. Surely it would be better to qualify directly rather than worry about the play offs.