Scotland’s potential route to 2026 World Cup final after draw revealed | OneFootball

Scotland’s possible route to the 2026 Fifa World Cup final has been revealed after the draw was made in Washington DC.

The Scots are raring for their first World Cup since 1998, one they qualified for in the most dramatic fashion when they scored two stoppage-time stunners to pip Denmark to top spot in their final Group C qualifier.

Napoli talisman Scott McTominay will lead the charge for the Tartan Army, who will be dreaming of watching their nation win a game at a major tournament having experienced only losses and draws at the past two Euros.

And while such an outcome might satisfy the travelling fans, they now know Scotland’s theoretical route to the biggest match in the four-year football calendar should Steve Clarke’s side blow all expectations out of the water.

After being drawn in Group C, Scotland will face Brazil, Morocco and Haiti in their three group fixtures. The venues for these games are yet to be confirmed.

Should they top the group they will face the nation that finishes as runner-up in Group F in the round of 32. If they finish as a runner-up, they will take on the winner of that group, which contains the Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia and and the winner of the Uefa Path B qualifying play-off (Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania).

If Scotland are of the eight best third-placed teams come the end of the group stage, they will face one of the winners from Groups A, E or I in the first knockout stage.

For ease of projection, let us assume that Scotland finish second in their group and Netherlands top theirs, setting up that round of 32 meeting.

They would then face the winner of a meeting between the runner-up in Group A and runner-up in Group B. Beyond that, a tough quarter-final may loom against France or Germany should each top their Groups (E and I respectively).

Should England win their group in our scenario, the earliest that they could encounter Scotland would be the final. Below is our projection using the current Fifa rankings to form a possible bracket.

Group fixtures:

13 June: Scotland vs Haiti (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough or MetLife Stadium, New Jersey)

18 June: Scotland vs Morocco (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia or Gillette Stadium, Foxborough)

24 June: Scotland vs Brazil (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami or Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)

Round of 32:

29 June: Scotland vs Netherlands (Estadio BBVA, Guadalupe)

Round of 16:

4 July: Scotland vs South Korea (NRG Stadium, Houston)

Quarter-final:

9 July: Scotland vs France (Gilette Stadium, Foxborough)

Semi-final:

14 July: Scotland vs Spain (AT&T Stadium, Dallas)

Final:

19 July: Scotland vs Argentina (MetLife Stadium, New Jersey)