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I think by and large Scotland have taken friendlies against teams that (at the time) are in higher pots than us (Luxembourg aside) so it wouldn't surprise me if the above is true and it's a good sign in my opinion. Steve Clarke talked around the issue of playing teams better than us in the build up to the Spain game at Hampden which gives an insight into the thinking at Scotland.

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We want to be competitive against the top teams. We've got promotion to Nations League A so we know that in that group we're going to come up against three top quality teams. We've got a friendly, this match we've taken England as a friendly so we're trying to push the players to get better and the more you play against top quality opposition the better you should get. 

Steve Clarke

https://news.stv.tv/sport/steve-clarke-says-scotland-need-patience-to-get-a-result-against-spain-in-european-championship-qualifier

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I’m all in favour of Championship Manager style friendlies against hapless teams that we can win by six or seven and get our no goals players a goal or two. None of these meaningful friendlies, thanks.  I want goals. 

Edited by Savage Henry
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Our options were fairly limited for this one as you're playing either the odd team out from the other UEFA groups of 5 or a team from another continent (but South American teams are already playing each other with dates tbc so that rules them out). The European teams were

Germany - Meant to be playing in either USA or Mexico
Estonia - Already playing Thailand
Bulgaria - Meant to be playing Albania but not confirmed yet
Albania - As above
North Macedonia - Free
Armenia - Free
France - Free

The rugby world cup is on in France at the time so playing in Spain would make sense. I hadn't booked flights back for after the Spain game since it was rumoured to be there. 

Edited by Pie Of The Month
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47 minutes ago, Pie Of The Month said:

Our options were fairly limited for this one as you're playing either the odd team out from the other UEFA groups of 5 or a team from another continent (but South American teams are already playing each other with dates tbc so that rules them out). The European teams were

Germany - Meant to be playing in either USA or Mexico
Estonia - Already playing Thailand
Bulgaria - Meant to be playing Albania but not confirmed yet
Albania - As above
North Macedonia - Free
Armenia - Free
France - Free

The rugby world cup is on in France at the time so playing in Spain would make sense. I hadn't booked flights back for after the Spain game since it was rumoured to be there. 

Aye weekend 14 and 15th Oct it's Q/Fs in Marseille and Stade de France 

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3 hours ago, Pie Of The Month said:

Our options were fairly limited for this one as you're playing either the odd team out from the other UEFA groups of 5 or a team from another continent (but South American teams are already playing each other with dates tbc so that rules them out). The European teams were

Germany - Meant to be playing in either USA or Mexico
Estonia - Already playing Thailand
Bulgaria - Meant to be playing Albania but not confirmed yet
Albania - As above
North Macedonia - Free
Armenia - Free
France - Free

The rugby world cup is on in France at the time so playing in Spain would make sense. I hadn't booked flights back for after the Spain game since it was rumoured to be there. 

So what you are saying is; it could have been Thailand.

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While we were a fairly mediocre team I would have said friendlies against the top tier nations were a bit of a waste of time - for example the Italy and France away double header in 2016. However, at the moment, these are the level of teams we're going to have to finish ahead of to win World Cup qualifying groups, and the teams we'll have to get results against to stay in League A of the Nations League, both of which have to be at least mildly realistic ambitions for the next few years.

It's a shame we've wasted our September friendly slot with a home game against a second-tier outfit, but I suppose there were historical reasons for that one, and it's good to give that sort of team a chance to step up against us at Hampden Park.

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

That’s us booked up for this now. Not actually sure I’ll get time off work, but I’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. Fly from Edinburgh to Brussels at 6.20 on matchday then Paris to Edinburgh via Luton the day after. Flights were about £110 which isn’t dreadful, although everything’s gone too smoothly thus far so expecting to run into some issues. 
 

Quite looking forward to seeing what Lille is like - a place I’ve never been and never thought I would be going. 

Edited by PSJ.84
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I’m guessing we’ll have two more friendlies in March whilst the playoffs are on (provided we’re not in them).

I’m probably one away game from guaranteeing myself tickets for Germany so it would be good to see what we arrange.

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35 minutes ago, lubo_blaha said:

I’m guessing we’ll have two more friendlies in March whilst the playoffs are on (provided we’re not in them).

I’m probably one away game from guaranteeing myself tickets for Germany so it would be good to see what we arrange.

If it's anything like recent tournaments then if we're not in the playoffs then our ticket allocation might be sold before those March games happen so points gained then won't matter.

For Euro 2016 England, Wales and Northern Ireland all sold their tickets in February 2016 and although it ended up being postponed due to COVID England fans in their travel club had to apply in December 2019 for their allocation of tickets.

Edited by Pie Of The Month
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3 minutes ago, Pie Of The Month said:

If it's anything like recent tournaments then if we're not in the playoffs then our ticket allocation might be sold before those March games happen so points gained then won't matter.

For Euro 2016 England, Wales and Northern Ireland all sold their tickets in February 2016 and although it ended up being postponed due to COVID England fans in their travel club had to apply in December 2019 for their allocation of tickets.

Didn’t realise it was that early. Might have to arrange a last minute trip to France in October in that case. Should be ok for the bigger stadiums at least.

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