Scotland v Ivory Coast LIVE: Steve Clarke names experimental XI as Tartan Army head to Liverpool for pre-World Cup friendly | OneFootball

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Scotland head to Liverpool to face Ivory Coast in a friendly as Steve Clarke gives his players on last opportunity to book their place to the World Cup this summer.

Scotland fell to a flat 1-0 defeat to Japan on Saturday and Clarke’s side are now looking to build some momentum as they take on an Ivory Coast side ranked five places above them in the Fifa rankings.

The Tartan Army will face Morocco in this summer’s World Cup group stages, so Ivory Coast have been identified as ideal opposition for Clarke’s players to step up their preparations.

Scotland will play the three-time African champions at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium, which will host an international men’s friendly for the first time since it was opened at the start of the season.

It will stage a pre-World Cup audition for some of Clarke’s pack, with this fixture the last match Scotland will play before the head coach names his squad for the tournament this summer.

Looking ahead: Only three games left before the World Cup!

The World Cup begins on June 11 but before that, Scotland have one scheduled warm-up game: against Curacao on 30 May at Hampden Park.

There will also likely be a warm-up game on US soil closer to the opening game, though the opponents and final details are yet to be confirmed.

The final squad lists reportedly need to be submitted on 30 May for all teams in the tournament.

Scotland’s fixtures will be as follows:

13 June: Scotland vs Haiti – 9pm ET/2am BST on 14 June

19 June: Scotland vs Morocco – 6pm ET/11pm BST

24 June: Scotland vs Brazil – 6pm ET/11pm BST

Chris Wilson31 March 2026 19:15

Clarke: 'The more you do, the more people expect of you'

“A big, difficult challenge" awaits against an Ivory Coast side that is "strong, direct, quick, good in attack and defence and were very clinical against South Korea,” according to Scotland boss Steve Clarke.

“I'm more interested in our record in competitive games and tournament record,” adds the Scotland boss when asked about the poor friendly record.

“The more you do, the more people expect of you, but I'd rather that than people not be bothered. If that level of expectation rises, that's fine - we can handle it,” he added.

(Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)