FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifier
Faroe Islands v Scotland
Tuesday, 12 October, kick-off 7.45pm
Tórsvøllur - Torshavn
Live on Sky Sports
Following Saturday’s wild scenes of celebrations following Scott McTominay’s dramatic winner, all eyes now turn to the Faroe Islands on Tuesday night as Scotland continue their march to World Cup qualification.
The 3-2 win over Israel now gives Scotland confidence with three games left in the group. Scotland currently sit in the second place, seven points behind Denmark, but four points ahead of Israel with a play-off place well in Scotland’s sights. Faroe Islands have amassed four points in the group thus far, drawing and then beating Moldova, but have also run Denmark close. At the weekend they lost 2-0 to Austria.
Previous meetings
Though Scotland have never lost to fifth seeds Faroe Islands, Steve Clarke and his players will be wary of any slip-ups, with the nation twice having dealt a blow to Scotland’s qualification hopes in the past with draws.
Scotland played against the Faroe Islands earlier this year at Hampden Park, defeating them 4-0 in March. On the night a John McGinn double and goals from Che Adams and Ryan Fraser were enough to secure a win.
The last time Scotland played in the Faroe Islands was in June 2007 when goals from Shaun Maloney and Garry O’Connor provided the visiting side with a 2-0 victory.
Pre-match thoughts
Jack Hendry is on a high, after excelling with Brugge following his move in the summer and Scotland’s memorable win on Saturday night. Now, he aims to continue his good form on Tuesday night in the Faroes.
He said: “It’s been an interesting few weeks, for sure. I’m on a trajectory at the minute and I want to keep it that way. But I’ve a lot of work to do and improvements to make. Against Israel, I was the only natural centre-half in that back three — KT is a left-back and Scott McTominay is a central midfielder. So there was a bigger responsibility than if I was playing beside two natural centre-halves. I had to lead the line in there, but I thought they both did extremely well and slotted into their roles brilliantly.
"The goals we lost were disappointing, but these are exciting times for me — when I go back to Brugge we’ve got Manchester City in the Champions League. I’ve learned so much in these past few games, and hopefully that can continue and help the national team as well.”
Reflecting on his first experience of a sold-out Hampden Park for a Scotland game, Jack looks back on it fondly.
He said: “It was difficult to describe how we felt at the end against Israel because of the atmosphere. It was amazing. When you are growing up, those are the kind of scenes you want to see from a Scotland support. The fans have waited a long time to see something like that and there’s nothing better than a last-minute winner. It’s in our hands now and, on Saturday, it was important to get the result to maintain all the hard work we’ve done, especially in Austria. We didn’t want to throw that all away. The three points are massive and put us in a strong position.”
Next up is a different challenge, in remote surroundings but it is a test Hendry is relishing.
He said: "We’ve got two difficult away games next, then a really tough one at home. But it’s totally in our hands now, which is the position we wanted to put ourselves in. Every game we go into we have to adapt to different circumstances.
“In the Faroes on Tuesday, it will be a totally different arena and place, so we have to adapt to those surroundings. But I’m sure with what we’re building in the changing room we will do that. After the game the gaffer said we’d shown real character coming from behind, but not to get too carried away. Tuesday’s a big game and all the focus is now on that.”
Match Officials
Referee: Matej Jug (SVN)
Assistant referees: Matej Žunič (SVN), Robert Vukan (SVN)
Video Assistant Referee: Rade Obrenovič (SVN)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Jure Praprotnik (SVN)
Fourth official: Nejc Kajtazovic (SVN)
How to follow the match
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports Football, kicking off at 7.45pm
You can also receive live updates via the official @ScotlandNT Twitter account.