Scotland fans are used to being within touching distance of something special only to see it cruelly ripped from their grasp but the World Cup draw in Qatar today could be the most gut-wrenching yet.
All eyes will be on Doha at 4.45pm today for an hour-long draw which, by the end of it, will have the Tartan Army dreaming of some glamour ties in the country’s first World Cup finals in 24 years.
For a brief second the heart will flutter when Scotland are placed in a pot before reality slaps us in the face with the same venom Will Smith could muster at the Oscars.
The small matter of beating Ukraine and Wales to officially secure our place has still to be navigated. Two games to book our place in Qatar is all it will take. It sounds easy when you say it.
But history has taught fans, especially those prone to donning a kilt, that when it comes to Scotland the path rarely runs smoothly.
For France in 1998 we had months of a build-up to what remains arguably the biggest game in Scotland’s history – the opening match in Paris against the reigning world champions Brazil.
Playing in the opening game was a first, and a glorious one at that, but little did we realise it would the first game of our last finals for more than 20 years.
Karma has a way of making Scotland feel the uglier side of the beautiful game at times.
Best and worst case scenario for the Tartan Army
June, hopefully, will be when Scotland’s World Cup fate is sealed but for today we are in the draw so let’s afford ourselves a rare chance to dream of who we could face.
Even the optimists looking for a best case scenario can still see a group filled with monumental challenges.
Hosts Qatar by some distance is the nation every team hopes to draw from Pot 1 with Switzerland or Croatia, the 15th and 17th ranked teams in the world respectively, the best possible outcome from Pot 2.
The final options on the wishlist would be Serbia or Tunisia.
It may not sound the most glamorous of groups but it would be the one which gives us the best chance of qualifying for the knockout phase for the first time in our history.
For the worst case scenario you can pretty much take your pick from any of the other nations really.
Qatar are the easiest option by some distance in Pot 1. The rest? Not so much. Take your pick from Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain or Portugal.
Any one of them would be a glamour tie but unlikely to be a winnable one.
The Dutch and the Germans both lurk in Pot 2 along with Denmark and Luis Suarez’s Uruguay while Robert Lewandowski and chums are in Pot 3.
Yes, I know we had a good performance against Poland at Hampden little more than a week ago but a competitive game in the World Cup is odds-on to be a far greater challenger.
If you want to avoid Poland you could face some of the Celtic players with Japan among the Pot 3 seeds.
But no matter how excited you feel when the draw is completed today remember this – even though Scotland are unbeaten in eight matches under Steve Clarke we are not there yet.
