Our Euro 2024 Fantasy team previews begin with a look at Scotland.
The Tartan Army have qualified for the European Championship for the fourth time but have never progressed beyond the group stage.
The last time they won a match at a major international tournament, indeed, was at Euro ’96.
In these country-by-country guides, we’ll be looking at the best players from each nation, taking a stab at predicted line-ups, reviewing the road to Germany and more.
To do this, we’ll be calling on the help of correspondents from each nation.
Here, we hear from native Scot, seasoned Fantasy manager and The i journalist Alex Dakers. Our thanks to Alex for his time.
All prices given are from the official Fantasy Euro 2024 game.
THE ROAD TO QUALIFICATION
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 5 | +20 | 21 |
| 2 | Scotland | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 8 | +9 | 17 |
| 3 | Norway | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 11 |
| 4 | Georgia | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 18 | −6 | 8 |
| 5 | Cyprus | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 28 | −25 | 0 |
Scotland have tended to do it the hard way in recent years, suffering qualification near-misses for the last two World Cups before squeaking through to Euro 2020 via a play-off penalty shootout.
Their involvement in this summer’s European Championship never looked in much doubt, however.
The road to Germany began with five successive victories, which formed part of an 11-match winning streak in qualification matches.
While successes over Georgia and Cyprus (twice) were largely expected (many a Scotland team has slipped up in these kinds of fixtures in the past, of course…), it was the early victories over Spain and Norway that proved pivotal.
The Norway game, in Matchday 3, was a smash-and-grab. Trailing to an Erling Haaland penalty, the Scots had only registered two shots in the first 80 minutes before a late double out of nowhere prolonged their winning start.
While those three points in Oslo owed much to the never-say-die spirit that Steve Clarke has fostered, the two matches against Spain would give the Tartan Army some confidence that they can mix it with the big boys this summer.
A deserved win over the rattled Spaniards at Hampden Park will live long in the memory. But even in the return fixture, which the hosts won, there was a resolute defensive display and what would have been a Scott McTominay equaliser was ruled out for a marginal offside.
Defeat in Seville only delayed the inevitable progression to Euro 2024. That was secured days later, when nearest rivals Norway were beaten by Spain. Scotland made it through with two games to spare.
QUALIFICATION IN NUMBERS
- Most starts: John McGinn, Callum McGregor (8), Scott McTominay, Ryan Porteous (7)
- Most goals: Scott McTominay (7), Callum McGregor (3)
- Most assists: Andrew Robertson (3), John McGinn, Lyndon Dykes (2)
- Clean sheets: 4 from 8
RECORD SINCE QUALIFYING
| Date | Competition | Opposition | Result | Score | Goalscorers | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 March | Friendly | Netherlands (a) | L | 0-4 | ||
| 26 March | Friendly | Northern Ireland (h) | L | 0-1 |
Unfortunately, Scotland’s record since qualification was assured has not been pretty.
Draws with Georgia and Norway in the final two qualifying games were ultimately meaningless.
But the winless run has continued since, with successive defeats in the March friendlies.
The loss in the Netherlands wasn’t as one-sided as it seemed. The Scots were in the match for a long time, with 13 chances created, only for the hosts to score three goals in the final 18 minutes.
More dispiriting was the home loss to Northern Ireland a few days later. Clarke’s side were booed off at Hampden after this match, which extended their run without a victory to seven matches.
The Scotland boss, and his troops, still have plenty of credit in the bank with the Scotland faithful, but a couple of early June friendly wins would be a bit of a tonic with that confidence from qualification slowly ebbing away.
MOST RECENT INTERNATIONAL LINE-UPS
22/03/2024 – The Netherlands (a)
(3-4-2-1): Gunn; Porteous, Hendry, Tierney (Souttar 68); Patterson, Gilmour (Ferguson 68), McTominay, Robertson (Ralston 74); McGinn (McLean 85), Christie (Armstrong 74); Shankland (Adams 68).
26/03/2024 – Northern Ireland (h)
(3-4-2-1): Gunn; Hendry, Cooper, Tierney; Patterson, McTominay, Gilmour (McClean 70), Robertson (Ferguson 36); McGinn (Armstrong 78), Christie (Shankland 78); Dykes (Adams 70).
UPCOMING FIXTURES
| Date | Competition | Opposition |
|---|---|---|
| 3 June | Friendly | Gibraltar (n) |
| 7 June | Friendly | Finland (h) |
GROUP FIXTURES
- 14 June: Germany
- 19 June: Switzerland
- 23 June: Hungary
HOW FAR WILL THEY GET?
“Pessimistically (or perhaps realistically): group stage exit. Optimistically: last 16.” – Alex Dakers
STRENGTHS
“Scotland boast multiple goal threats, such as McGinn, McTominay, McGregor and whoever plays up top (more on that below) without there being one key/obvious target man (more on that below, too…) that could be at risk of being marked out of a game. This gives Scotland options game by game and also means they may be more difficult to form a game plan against from a defensive standpoint.
“They’re good from attacking set pieces, while there’s depth in midfield with both experience and youth.
“A relatively versatile defence (with one crucial weak spot as highlighted below) is compact, with the three centre-halves at the back and defensively sound wing-backs that are also adept at joining in the attack.
“This is a strong core group that have built momentum through last Euros and a strong qualifying campaign for this year’s tournament. And, I’d argue, a wee thing called the Tartan Army backing them!” – Alex Dakers
WEAKNESSES
“The lack of a clear out-and-out, reliable goalscorer and first-choice striker can be construed as being a weakness: 18-goal promotion-winning Saints striker Che Adams, the slightly streaky Lyndon Dykes and the in-form Lawrence Shankland (31 goals for Hearts and the PFA Scotland player of the year) could all play a part. It’ll be interesting to see based on the upcoming friendlies who Clarke might pick in Munich. Oh how nice it would be to have the likes of McFadden, Miller, even Griffiths from the last decade and a bit available now to slot in… but alas.
“The absences of Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson and Lewis Ferguson are a major sore point that makes the right side of the defence a possible weakness, with Anthony Ralston and the uncapped Ross McCrorie likely the two battling for that position in the XI (though there have been some murmurings of the resurgent James Forrest getting a shot at wing-back – again, games between now and 14 June could reveal Clarke’s thoughts on that).
“A few players – e.g., Armstrong, Doak (though I do love his inclusion as a possible flair-bringing difference maker), Jack, Hanley – also haven’t played in recent months, may lack match fitness and leave Clarke with fewer reliable options off the bench.
“Scotland rare also sometimes lacklustre at defending set pieces.” – Alex Dakers
BEST EURO 2024 FANTASY PLAYERS: SCOTLAND
“Andrew Robertson (€5.5m) is the captain and one of the team’s talisman. Less attacking than he is for Liverpool (where he did get two goals to end the season, no doubt boosting confidence!) due to differing team systems but still gets forward to whip in some trademark crosses, fire off the occasional (if not always super accurate) shot, and also gets his fair share of set pieces.
“John McGinn (€6.5m), like Robertson, is nailed on to start and a reliable attacking threat, not afraid of the big moments and scorer of some big goals for Scotland in recent history (18 goals from 64 caps making him fifth on Scotland’s all-time scorers list). ‘Meatball’ also has penalties in his locker, as well as being in the mix for other set pieces, and comes to Germany off the back of an excellent season with Aston Villa.
“Finally, Scott McTominay (€6.5m). Seven goals and an assist in qualifying for Scotland had fans raving about ‘McSauce’, and rightly so – that goal haul was beaten only by Romelu Lukaku, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane. He chipped in with a double digit tally in all competitions for Manchester United despite not being a regular starter, and will be brimming with confidence based on both of those reasons as well as having started in United’s FA Cup win. As with the other two, nailed on starter and perhaps Scotland’s chief goal threat whether from set pieces or late runs into the box in open play.” – Alex Dakers
FAN’S PREDICTED LINE-UP
(5-4-1) Gunn; McCrorie, Porteous, Hendry, Tierney, Robertson; Gilmour, McTominay, McGinn, Christie; Adams
“Ross McCrorie (also a back-up option at centre-back) has been playing as a wing-back for Bristol City, so could get the edge over Anthony Ralston who is typically more of a traditional full-back and also has fallen out of favour at Celtic.
“Friendlies could reveal more info on this, as well as the battle to be first choice up top. Clarke may have leaned towards handing to Dykes as the man who did the job the most during qualifying and being good off the ball, despite him having the least prolific club season of the three. Injury has now ruled him out of the tournament, however.
“Scott McKenna vs Ryan Porteous could be a toss-up for the third central defence spot beside Jack Hendry and Kieran Tierney, who theoretically could play right wing-back but is unlikely to. Billy GIlmour vs Callum McGregor beside McTominay at the base of the midfield (starting line-up, mind, before McSauce darts forward!) and behind McGinn and Ryan Christie could be argued either way but I’d like to see Gilmour start with the option to bring McGregor on to change things up. Both could start, with McGregor more advanced at the expense of Christie, but that’s unlikely given the creativity the Bournemouth man brings.” – Alex Dakers
STAY TUNED FOR MORE EURO 2024 COVERAGE!
A reminder that we’ll be covering the European Championship in great detail this summer.
Part of that coverage will be the usual team-by-team guides on all competing 24 nations in Euro 2024.
But we’ll also have team reveals, strategy guides and much more. The official UEFA Fantasy game will be the main game we’re covering, which you read about below:
There’ll also be £500+ worth of prizes if you join our mini-league! Click the below to sign up:
If you want to be part of our coverage and are a fan of one of the countries competing, do get involved via the below:
7 months, 23 hours agoI can't see McGregor not being in the starting XI against Germany. He only missed the last two internationals due to injury. I wouldn't have McCrorie starting either. I would've thought both Ralston and Forrest would be ahead of him in the pecking order.
Could be wrong though. The upcoming friendlies - the Finland game more so than the Gibraltar one - should shed a bit more light on matters.