Scotland 2-0 Denmark: John Souttar and Che Adams earn home World Cup play-off

John Souttar made a scoring return to the Scotland side after a three-year absence

Scotland secured a seeded spot in the World Cup play-off semi-finals as goals from John Souttar and Che Adams stunned Denmark with a thrilling performance at Hampden Park.

Steve Clarke's Group F runners-up needed at least a point against the runaway leaders to give themselves a chance of a home draw.

But centre-half Souttar headed home in his first Scotland game since being sent off in a 2018 defeat by Israel and striker Adams burst clear to settle growing nerves after 86 minutes.

• Reaction & as it happened
• Euros was catalyst for World Cup run - Clarke
• How did Scotland salvage campaign to focus in on play-offs?

Scotland had lived dangerously in the closing stages before that breakaway goal secured a sixth competitive victory in succession for the first time since winning six Home Nations matches in a row between March 1928 and February 1930.

It also ended Denmark's six-game winning run since losing 2-1 to England at the semi-final stage of the Euro 2020 finals this summer and ensured they fell short of ending their qualification campaign with a 100% record.

Scotland started with real intent as, spurred on by a sea of noise from the packed stands, they began at a frenetic pace.

However, Denmark survived the early pressure to create the first chance after 10 minutes and remind Scotland of their threat.

Midfielder Daniel Wass could only knock Rasmus Kristensen's cross wide off his hip from close range before centre-half Andreas Christensen sent a thundering drive just over from 25 yards.

It took Scotland 23 minutes to fashion their first clear sight at goal as Adams' low drive was denied by a superb Kasper Schmeichel stop, the goalkeeper sending out a telescopic leg to turn the striker's effort wide.

That sparked the Scots and, after an intense spell of pressure, Liam Cooper headed a John McGinn corner to the back post back into the path of fellow centre-half Souttar to nod past Schmeichel.

Watch: 'John Souttar can be the story of the night' - Scotland head coach Steve Clarke

What a fairytale return it was for the 25-year-old, whose career has been plagued by injury since his first trio of caps three years ago, but he still had some defending to do - and lots of it.

A Wass shot deflected off Cooper's heel and just wide of the far post before Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon superbly clawed away striker Andreas Cornelius close-range header either side of the break as Denmark took the game to the home side.

Scotland defended desperately and were dangerous on the break, defender Kieran Tierney's shot-come-clearance from all of 35 yards clipping the crossbar before substitute Stuart Armstrong picked out Southampton team-mate Adams to curl in the second and send the home fans into raptures.

Man of the match - Che Adams

Che Adams worked tirelessly up front and came close a couple of times before being rewarded with his goal

What did we learn?

Scotland continue their improvement since a disappointing start to the qualifying campaign - and the damp squib of the Euro 2020 finals.

It will be pointed out that Denmark were without a number of key players through injury, but Scotland too were shorn of the services of striking talisman Lyndon Dykes, central defenders Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry, plus the versatile Scott McTominay.

However, this is a side with enough strength in depth to be ranked 10th in the world - 32 places above the Scots - and who had only lost one goal in their previous nine group games.

A draw would probably have meant a more difficult away tie in the semi-finals, so Clarke's side delivered when it mattered - and they did so with the bonus of no suspensions looming for the five starters for whom a booking would have been ruled out of that crucial, one-off tie.

What's next?

Scotland head for a home tie in the World Cup play-off semi-finals from 24-29 March along with nine other group runners-up and two top finishers from the Nations League.

Player of the match

AdamsChe Adams

with an average of 8.76

• ScotlandScotlandScotland
• DenmarkDenmarkDenmark

Scotland

Avg

1. Squad number10Player nameAdams

   Average rating

   8.76
2. Squad number7Player nameMcGinn

   Average rating

   8.72
3. Squad number5Player nameSouttar

   Average rating

   8.62
4. Squad number14Player nameGilmour

   Average rating

   8.55
5. Squad number1Player nameGordon

   Average rating

   8.51
6. Squad number8Player nameMcGregor

   Average rating

   8.39
7. Squad number16Player nameCooper

   Average rating

   8.35
8. Squad number6Player nameTierney

   Average rating

   8.32
9. Squad number3Player nameRobertson

   Average rating

   8.25
10. Squad number11Player nameChristie

    Average rating

    7.95
11. Squad number2Player nameO'Donnell

    Average rating

    7.88
12. Squad number17Player nameS Armstrong

    Average rating

    7.59
13. Squad number4Player nameRalston

    Average rating

    7.14
14. Squad number23Player nameMcLean

    Average rating

    7.06
15. Squad number15Player nameMcKenna

    Average rating

    6.96

Denmark

Avg

1. Squad number1Player nameSchmeichel

   Average rating

   5.79
2. Squad number4Player nameKjaer

   Average rating

   5.48
3. Squad number18Player nameWass

   Average rating

   5.28
4. Squad number11Player nameSkov Olsen

   Average rating

   5.24
5. Squad number5Player nameMaehle

   Average rating

   5.22
6. Squad number6Player nameChristensen

   Average rating

   5.18
7. Squad number13Player nameKristensen

   Average rating

   5.10
8. Squad number3Player nameVestergaard

   Average rating

   5.09
9. Squad number12Player nameJønsson

   Average rating

   5.04
10. Squad number21Player nameCornelius

    Average rating

    5.02
11. Squad number10Player nameBruun Larsen

    Average rating

    4.94
12. Squad number7Player nameStage

    Average rating

    4.83
13. Squad number9Player nameUhre

    Average rating

    4.71
14. Squad number14Player nameDreyer

    Average rating

    4.61
15. Squad number23Player nameSisto

    Average rating

    4.55
16. Squad number15Player nameBah

    Average rating

    4.47

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Scotland

Formation 3-4-2-1

1Gordon

5Souttar16Cooper6Tierney

2O'Donnell14Gilmour8McGregor3Robertson

7McGinn11Christie

10Adams

• 1Gordon
• 5Souttar
• 16Cooper
• 6TierneySubstituted forRalstonat 88'minutes
• 2O'Donnell
• 14GilmourSubstituted forMcLeanat 74'minutes
• 8McGregor
• 3RobertsonSubstituted forMcKennaat 79'minutes
• 7McGinn
• 11ChristieSubstituted forS Armstrongat 80'minutes
• 10Adams

Substitutes

• 4Ralston
• 12Clark
• 13Porteous
• 15McKenna
• 17S Armstrong
• 18Turnbull
• 19Nisbet
• 20Ferguson
• 21McLaughlin
• 22Brown
• 23McLean

Denmark

Formation 3-4-3

1Schmeichel

6Christensen4Kjaer3Vestergaard

13Kristensen18Wass12Jønsson5Maehle

11Skov Olsen21Cornelius10Bruun Larsen

• 1SchmeichelBooked at 22mins
• 6Christensen
• 4Kjaer
• 3Vestergaard
• 13KristensenSubstituted forBahat 81'minutes
• 18WassSubstituted forDreyerat 81'minutes
• 12JønssonSubstituted forStageat 56'minutes
• 5Maehle
• 11Skov Olsen
• 21CorneliusSubstituted forUhreat 72'minutes
• 10Bruun LarsenSubstituted forSistoat 56'minutes

Substitutes

• 2Maxsø
• 7Stage
• 9Uhre
• 14Dreyer
• 15Bah
• 16Vindahl
• 19Riis Jakobsen
• 22Rønnow
• 23Sisto

Referee:

Alejandro José Hernández Hernández

Attendance:

49,527

Match Stats

Home TeamScotlandAway TeamDenmark

Possession

Home41%

Away59%

Shots

Home9

Away10

Shots on Target

Home5

Away2

Corners

Home10

Away6

Fouls

Home6

Away8

Live Text

1. Post update

   Match ends, Scotland 2, Denmark 0.

2. 90'+5'

   Full Time

   Second Half ends, Scotland 2, Denmark 0.

3. 90'+3'

   Post update

   Corner, Denmark. Conceded by Kenny McLean.

4. 90'+3'

   Post update

   Pione Sisto (Denmark) wins a free kick on the right wing.

5. 90'+3'

   Post update

   Foul by Kenny McLean (Scotland).

6. 90'

   Post update

   Corner, Denmark. Conceded by Liam Cooper.

7. 90'

   Post update

   Attempt blocked. Joakim Maehle (Denmark) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Anders Dreyer.

8. 89'

   Post update

   Attempt blocked. Stuart Armstrong (Scotland) right footed shot from very close range is blocked. Assisted by Che Adams with a headed pass.

9. 88'

   Substitution

   Substitution, Scotland. Anthony Ralston replaces Kieran Tierney.

10. 86'

    Goal!

    Goal! Scotland 2, Denmark 0. Che Adams (Scotland) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Stuart Armstrong with a through ball following a fast break.

11. 85'

    Post update

    Attempt saved. Mikael Uhre (Denmark) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.

12. 83'

    Post update

    Corner, Denmark. Conceded by Craig Gordon.

13. 83'

    Post update

    Attempt saved. Andreas Skov Olsen (Denmark) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.

14. 82'

    Post update

    Corner, Denmark. Conceded by Kieran Tierney.

15. 81'

    Substitution

    Substitution, Denmark. Anders Dreyer replaces Daniel Wass.

16. 81'

    Substitution

    Substitution, Denmark. Alexander Bah replaces Rasmus Kristensen.

17. 80'

    Substitution

    Substitution, Scotland. Stuart Armstrong replaces Ryan Christie.

18. 79'

    Substitution

    Substitution, Scotland. Scott McKenna replaces Andrew Robertson because of an injury.

19. 76'

    Post update

    Attempt blocked. Pione Sisto (Denmark) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jannik Vestergaard.

20. 74'

    Substitution

    Substitution, Scotland. Kenny McLean replaces Billy Gilmour because of an injury.

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