Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Paul Third: Could 2024 be the year Scotland finally qualify for the knockout stage?

Tartan Army are daring to dream after a decent draw for next summer's European Championship finals in Germany.

Scotland players celebrate during a Euro 2024 qualifying match against Spain at Hampden.
Scotland will kick-off Euro 2024 against hosts Germany on Friday night. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.

If you want to make a good first impression then opportunities for Scotland do not come any better than the opening game of next summer’s Euro 2024 finals.

It is like 1998 all over again and there is little doubt the late Craig Brown would have had afforded himself a grin had he been with us to hear the news.

His Scotland squad was handed the biggest match possible in facing the world champions Brazil in Paris in the opening game of the World Cup 25 years ago.

The current Scotland boss Steve Clarke has been given the honour of leading his side out for the opening game of next summer’s finals in Germany against the hosts.

If you are going to return to the big stage you might as well go all out, eh?

Germany 2024 feels like the real deal

As welcome as Scotland’s return to the world stage was for Euro 2020 the format meant we were at home for two of the three games.

As nice as it was to be back with the stadium at 20% of capacity due to the Covid pandemic it feels as if Germany next summer will be a far more joyous occasion.

A Tartan Army invasion is guaranteed following Saturday’s draw in Hamburg which went as well as could be hoped.

The old ‘anyone but England’ phrase has taken on new meaning in recent years given the number of times the two nations have faced each other.

We’ve done that this time round but there is the potential for a meeting with Gareth Southgate’s side in the last 16. Now that would take the famous rivalry to new heights.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – England have still to get out of their group first.

Qualification does not feel like mission impossible

Scotland manager Steve Clarke at the side of the pitch
Scotland manager Steve Clarke celebrates his side’s win over Norway in Oslo. Image: SNS.

Seriously, it’s Scotland’s progress which we need to focus on and given we have yet to get out of a group in the finals of a major tournament in our history it remains the mother of all hurdles for a Scotland fan.

Could next year be the year it finally happens?

We’ll see, but the Germans right now are anything but the force we’ve come to expect.

Julian Nagelsmann’s team is one in transition but the pressure to deliver in front of an expectant home support will be huge come June.

If you could pick when to face the Germans then the opening game would be your choice.

But we should beware Hungary at our peril. If the Germans are the favourites then Hungary must be pushing them very close.

They topped Group G with 18 points, one more than Scotland managed in their campaign.

Switzerland, with four last-16 berths in the last five World Cups, are no mugs either and it took penalties for Spain to beat them in the quarter-finals of the Euros in 2021.

All three matches will be tests but Scotland are heading to Germany a better team than the one which competed in the previous championships.

That is due in no small measure to the manager who has built a squad which believes in him and is executing his gameplan brilliantly.

Much can happen between now and June but Scotland should be looking forward with optimism at this point.

The Tartan Army most certainly will be.

Conversation