Pre-World Cup friendlies

[RDFH64]

29 minutes ago, NE TA in the weeg said:

I know it doesn't work like this, but I would hope the SFA are primarily guided by what the football management and coaching team want in terms of the most appropriate preparation.

Anymore sensible posts & You’ll be banned fae this forum 😜

[bdgsct]

I find it funny how teams still select friendly opponents based on close geographical proximity of nations they are due to meet rather than playing teams of similar styles. Surely it's more important to play a team with a similar style that another African or Asian team. With so many foreign unfluence in coaching from a young age at club and international level (and outlawing of the physical side of the game) you would think geography and styles would be less intrinsically linked.

[Clyde1998]

34 minutes ago, NE TA in the weeg said:

I know it doesn't work like this, but I would hope the SFA are primarily guided by what the football management and coaching team want in terms of the most appropriate preparation.

I'd hope so too.

Obviously dependant on the sort of sides we get in the draw, I wouldn't mind us playing:

• a North African side (like Egypt or Algeria);
• one of the Central American/Caribbean sides who qualified (IIRC, most of Curacao's side is based in the Netherlands, so we could play them out there relatively easily);
• one of the better Asian/weaker South American sides (South Korea; Paraguay)

at some point before the tournament starts. Gives us some sort of guide as to how strong those sort of sides are relative to European ones.

Of the European sides who didn't qualify for the World Cup and aren't in the play-offs: Gibraltar; Latvia; Malta; and Luxembourg are all playing in Nations League play-off matches to determine who'll be relegated/promoted between Leagues C and D - so are unavailable in March.

We've obviously not going to play Russia; or Israel, nor can I see us playing anyone who was in our qualifying group. These are the sides who seem to be available for at least one of the match dates in March, once discounting those sides (ordered and grouped by Elo ranking):

• >1600 pts: Serbia; Hungary; Slovenia; Georgia
• >1500 pts: Iceland; Finland (playing Germany away in the second fixture slot)
• >1400 pts: Bulgaria; Montenegro; Kazakhstan
• >1300 pts: Armenia; Faroe Is; Estonia; Azerbaijan; Cyprus
• >1200 pts: Moldova; Lithuania
• <1100 pts: Andorra; Liechtenstein; San Marino

The Faroe Islands or Estonia seem the most typical of the type of side we would play.

[Clyde1998]

12 minutes ago, bdgsct said:

I find it funny how teams still select friendly opponents based on close geographical proximity of nations they are due to meet rather than playing teams of similar styles. Surely it's more important to play a team with a similar style that another African or Asian team. With so many foreign unfluence in coaching from a young age at club and international level (and outlawing of the physical side of the game) you would think geography and styles would be less intrinsically linked.

They probably are less linked, but there may still be some things which are still similar by region and it's still worth getting to know what sort of standard an Asian (for example) side is relative to European ones.

If we drew Jordan, having a friendly against Kuwait (who drew twice with them in qualifying) may be helpful in determining how we should approach the Jordan game.

[Clyde1998]

1 hour ago, Fin4ever said:

getting ahead of ourselves.  The games will be in late May

We've got two match slots in March and two in the May/June before the tournament starts.

[wanderer]

Unless they are already coming to Europe, the SFA would have to fork out for a non-European team to come to Hampden, plus in June its unlikely that any American teams will come to Europe, just to go back again.....

June we might see someone like Japan, Australia or New Zealand come to Europe, especially if based on the east coast of America.

[ceudmilefailte]

18 hours ago, Orraloon said:

I want games against weaker opposition to TRY to instil a wee bit of confidence into the players again. Hopefully play lots of forward passes, instead of this passy passy shyte across the back four. Maybe even score a few goals. Our players have looked very short of confidence in recent games. Apart from our amazing goals against Denmark we have been outplayed in all areas of the pitch. They need a confidence boost to make them start to think that they are actually good enough to compete well at the World Cup. A wee dose of the Jim Baxter type swagger would be good to see. 

Should try Finland and Northern Ireland to see if we have improved in last two years. 

[daviebee]

18 hours ago, Clyde1998 said:

I'd hope so too.

Obviously dependant on the sort of sides we get in the draw, I wouldn't mind us playing:

• a North African side (like Egypt or Algeria);
• one of the Central American/Caribbean sides who qualified (IIRC, most of Curacao's side is based in the Netherlands, so we could play them out there relatively easily);
• one of the better Asian/weaker South American sides (South Korea; Paraguay)

at some point before the tournament starts. Gives us some sort of guide as to how strong those sort of sides are relative to European ones.

Of the European sides who didn't qualify for the World Cup and aren't in the play-offs: Gibraltar; Latvia; Malta; and Luxembourg are all playing in Nations League play-off matches to determine who'll be relegated/promoted between Leagues C and D - so are unavailable in March.

We've obviously not going to play Russia; or Israel, nor can I see us playing anyone who was in our qualifying group. These are the sides who seem to be available for at least one of the match dates in March, once discounting those sides (ordered and grouped by Elo ranking):

• >1600 pts: Serbia; Hungary; Slovenia; Georgia
• >1500 pts: Iceland; Finland (playing Germany away in the second fixture slot)
• >1400 pts: Bulgaria; Montenegro; Kazakhstan
• >1300 pts: Armenia; Faroe Is; Estonia; Azerbaijan; Cyprus
• >1200 pts: Moldova; Lithuania
• <1100 pts: Andorra; Liechtenstein; San Marino

The Faroe Islands or Estonia seem the most typical of the type of side we would play.

I still have nightmares about the last time we played Egypt in a warm-up match.  😱 Angus Gunn's dad could warn him to beware of 30-yard Gordon Durie passbacks. All a wee bit demoralising before the WC and it sadly didn't get a lot better when the main event began.

[DoonTheSlope]

Bolivia away and Australia at home

It would be good for the long time rumour of Iran away to come to fruition too

[stocky]

My son told me Brazil are coming to Wembley in March, a wee game v Brazil would be good.

Emirates again ,? 

Hampden 🤔

That's presuming we don't draw them and that my boy isnae havering.

[ProudScot]

11 minutes ago, stocky said:

My son told me Brazil are coming to Wembley in March, a wee game v Brazil would be good.

Emirates again ,? 

Hampden 🤔

That's presuming we don't draw them and that my boy isnae havering.

Getting hunped before the tournament is a terrible idea 

[Ally Bongo]

They arent that good at the moment and their 2026 WC qualification has been their worst on record 

Neymar is 33 now and whilst he hasnt officially retired from International football he hasnt been in many squads since the last WC

That said teams that need a confidence boost always like playing us 

[AlfieMoon]

I always remember watching a video of Brazil 1970 ‘the boys from Brazil’ - it highlighted the importance or their acclimatisation training for playing in the heat and altitude of Mexico. 
 

Surely some of this may be a factor. It might not be realistic to have a game in Wales and a nice send off from Hampden and just rock up in US/Mexico/Canada four or five days before the opening match.  
 

The games in June may need to factor in that heat training, but I imagine they’ll also want to try and balance how long players are away from families. 

Edited November 27, 2025 by AlfieMoon

[wanderer]

13 hours ago, stocky said:

My son told me Brazil are coming to Wembley in March, a wee game v Brazil would be good.

Emirates again ,? 

Hampden 🤔

That's presuming we don't draw them and that my boy isnae havering.

Not 100%, but in March I think its already confirmed they are playing England in London and then away to Portugal in Lisbon

[Sempre]

On 11/27/2025 at 10:54 AM, daviebee said:

I still have nightmares about the last time we played Egypt in a warm-up match.  😱 Angus Gunn's dad could warn him to beware of 30-yard Gordon Durie passbacks. All a wee bit demoralising before the WC and it sadly didn't get a lot better when the main event began.

That Egypt game was my first ever Scotland match. Then Italia 90 rolled around and I fell in love with international football and all the World Cups I was going to get to see us in 🙄

[NE TA in the weeg]

16 hours ago, AlfieMoon said:

Surely some of this may be a factor. It might not be realistic to have a game in Wales and a nice send off from Hampden and just rock up in US/Mexico/Canada four or five days before the opening match.  

I would happily forgo the opportunity to see the team at Hampden before they go if it means they're better prepared for the games that matter.

[Johnnyshaker]

4 hours ago, wanderer said:

Not 100%, but in March I think its already confirmed they are playing England in London and then away to Portugal in Lisbon

I just saw that Brazil are playing France in Boston and Croatia in Orlando in March.

https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/report-brazil-france-play-march-friendly-boston--flm-2025-11-13/

[romanticscot]

March - look at some other players and try some different setups. Prepare for the event we might have some injuries to react to. If its Harvey Barnes, Ryan Fraser or McBurnie get the drama out of the way Dont go complete experimental but we need to prepare for losing Gannon-Doak or even resting him. Off topic, but McTominays goal was possible because Ben had TWO Danes in knots. 

June - Clarke will likely have one of the games at Hampden for a send off. Weaker team like a Malta. Lessons learned from Euros would be if things dont go so well it can be very damaging. That said, even if we struggled against a Finland this time, come the actual WORLD CUP players will be in that moment not thinking dearie me a week ago we sucked against Finland. j hope we do better. Acclimatization is vital more than playing hard matches IMO.   

[AlfieMoon]

The international window is 1-9 June. 

I’m no expert on acclimatisation but think they need at least a week. 
 

If I were to hazard a guess, I can imagine them going to Spain/Portugal again, possibly pop home for a game in between travel to US. 
 

A better approach would maybe just be taking the June friendlies in the US and getting there mega early which gives them full time to get ready. I don’t imagine them wanting to be away that long though. 

[Orraloon]

52 minutes ago, AlfieMoon said:

The international window is 1-9 June. 

I’m no expert on acclimatisation but think they need at least a week. 
 

If I were to hazard a guess, I can imagine them going to Spain/Portugal again, possibly pop home for a game in between travel to US. 
 

A better approach would maybe just be taking the June friendlies in the US and getting there mega early which gives them full time to get ready. I don’t imagine them wanting to be away that long though. 

I think it's in the FIFA rules that the teams must arrive at least 5 days beforehand. I'm not sure if that's 5 days before the first game of the WC, or each country's first game?

[Mazziessc]

Games against beatable pot 2 and 3 teams 1 in each window alongside two of Belgium/Portugal/Host nation would be my pick.

Edited November 28, 2025 by Mazziessc

[Yr Alban]

On 11/27/2025 at 10:54 AM, daviebee said:

I still have nightmares about the last time we played Egypt in a warm-up match.  😱 Angus Gunn's dad could warn him to beware of 30-yard Gordon Durie passbacks. All a wee bit demoralising before the WC and it sadly didn't get a lot better when the main event began.

I remember reading a newspaper report of that match. Something like ‘Gordon Durie, 30 yards from goal, swivelled and played a perfect pass onto the head of the centre forward, who netted with considerable aplomb. Unfortunately for Scotland, Durie was facing the wrong way, and the recipient of this extraordinary piece of footballing genius was Egyptian.’

[mccaughey85]

3 easy games against minnows and 1 game against a fairly decent team like Ukraine or Egypt. 

That way we build confidence and don't risk losing games before our inevitable failure at the world cup.

[daviebee]

9 hours ago, Yr Alban said:

I remember reading a newspaper report of that match. Something like ‘Gordon Durie, 30 yards from goal, swivelled and played a perfect pass onto the head of the centre forward, who netted with considerable aplomb. Unfortunately for Scotland, Durie was facing the wrong way, and the recipient of this extraordinary piece of footballing genius was Egyptian.’

Truly a "WTF was he doing?" moment. Couldn't for the life of me understand why he did it with all the different options available to him.

[ceudmilefailte]

9 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

3 easy games against minnows and 1 game against a fairly decent team like Ukraine or Egypt. 

That way we build confidence and don't risk losing games before our inevitable failure at the world cup.

So Finland ,northern Ireland and Gibraltar?

i know we can’t play them all but that strategy didn’t end well last time.