Hampden Park welcomes Scotland and Northern Ireland this Tuesday in an international friendly. Whereas Scotland will be looking to build some form before the European Championships, Northern Ireland are just looking for a win.
Date: 26/03/2024
Kick-off time: 19:45
Location: Hampden Park
This international break serves as a way for Michael O’Neill to get to know his team and focus on building a side to compete at tournaments in the future. Scotland, however, needs to build some momentum for the Euros this summer.
Scotland were a surprise in the European Qualifiers, challenging Spain for the top of the group. In eight games, The Tartan Army have five wins, two draws and one loss, which leaves them on 17 points, four points from Spain but qualified.
The last time out at the Euros, Scotland crashed out at the group stage. In a group with England, Croatia and the Czech Republic, Scotland drew one of their games and lost the other two, finishing teh group stage on one point and out of the competition.
Northern Ireland, on the other hand, were underwhelming in the Qualifiers. Group H saw Denmark, Slovenia, Finland, Kazakhstan and San Marino all battle for qualification. In ten games, Northern Ireland have just three wins and seven losses, leaving them on nine points, 13 points from top of the group Denmark and nine points from nearest team Kazakhstan.
In relation to the European Championships, Northern Ireland have only competed once, this being back in 2016 where they made the Round of 16 but lost 1 - 0 to Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have met 36 times in their histories, with the first meeting coming in the British Home Championship in 1954. Scotland have a much better record in the fixture with 17 wins in comparison to Northern Ireland’s nine wins. However, a draw is more common than a Northern Ireland win, happening on ten occasions.
In fact, Northern Ireland haven’t won in this fixture since all the way back in 1983. However, this fixture rarely sees a lot of goals, with only one team on the scoresheet more often than not, with both teams on the scoresheet only once in nine games, back in 1982.
