SCOTLAND head to England having given themselves a mountain to climb to qualify for the Euro 2020 last 16?
Steve Clarke’s men lost 2-0 at home to the Czech Republic in their opening match at Hampden as Patrik Schick scored from the halfway line.
But all is not lost for Scotland and they still have a chance of qualifying for the Euro 2020 last 16.
How can Scotland qualify for the Euro 2020 last 16?
Scotland’s chances of qualifying are boosted by the fact that the best four third placed teams from the six groups will progress to the last 16.
However, they are not helped by the fact that head-to-head record is the first method used to split teams level on points in Uefa competitions.
That means if Scotland were to finish level on points with the Czech Republic, the Czechs would be placed higher in the group because of their 2-0 win.
If the Scots were to pick up four or more points from their games against England and Croatia, they would be in a strong position to qualify.
And if they were to lose to England, the best scenario going into the third game for Scotland would likely be the Czech Republic winning or drawing against Croatia.
Were that to happen, Scotland would just need to beat the Croats to secure third place and a chance of going through.
However, if Czech Republic were to lose their remaining two games and Scotland were to beat Croatia, the three sides’ final positions would be decided on three-way head-to-head record.
Then, Scotland’s two-goal loss to the Czechs would count against them and they could find themselves needing to beat the Croats by a significant margin.
At Euro 2016, the lowest ranked third placed team to qualify from their group was Northern Ireland.
They finished with three points and a goal difference of zero.
