Scotland face the Ivory Coast tomorrow night. Read our in-depth preview here…
Scotland will hope to bounce back from defeat to Japan on Saturday – and heal a rift with the Tartan Army – when they take on the Ivory Coast tomorrow night.
Steve Clarke’s side were beaten at Hampden thanks to Junya Ito’s late goal and the final whistle was met with boos from the home fans. It was a stark contrast to the overwhelming euphoria that surrounded their win over Denmark in November that secured their place at the World Cup finals this summer.
Clarke admitted he was surprised and disappointed by the reaction and will be hoping for more unity when his side meet the African nation at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The defeat to Japan continued Scotland’s miserable record of not winning a home friendly in 10 years and it won’t get any easier against a team that can boast talent such as Amad Diallo and Evann Guessand.
“I sometimes think my players look at me and think ‘c’mon, gaffer, what are you doing?’ but I always try and pick difficult friendlies,” Clarke said at the weekend.
“If the performance is good, and you can take things from it, then you can carry that forward. This is where you have to be at, lads.
“This is the level you have to reach if you want to get the points to get out the group stage then you have to play to that standard.”
Scotland have been drawn alongside Haiti, Morocco and Brazil in Group C at the World Cup while the Ivory Coast will come up against Germany, Curacao and Ecuador.
Emerse Fae’s men were impressive in thrashing South Korea 4-0 in Milton Keynes on Saturday and will make the trip to Merseyside in confident mood.
Guessand opened the scoring with Simon Adingra adding a second in first-half injury time. Martial Godo and Wilfried Singo completed the rout after the break.
Table of Contents
Team News for Ivory Coast v Scotland
Ryan Christie, Kieran Tierney, Anthony Ralston, Che Adams and John Souttar could all play after sitting out the Japan game.
Franck Kessie, Ibrahim Sangare and Diallo are all set to start for the Ivory Coast. Teenage sensation Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig is unavailable through injury.
Predicted line-ups for Ivory Coast v Scotland
Ivory Coast: Lafont; Singo, Diomande, Kossounou, Konan; Guiagon, Sangare, Kessie; Diallo, Guessand, Godo
Scotland: Gunn; Ralston, Souttar, McKenna, Tierney; Christie, Gilmour; McGinn, McTominay, Curtis; Adams
How to watch Ivory Coast v Scotland
Scotland versus the Ivory Coast kicks off at 7.30pm UK time tomorrow night. You can watch it on BBC Two, BBC Scotland or stream via the BBC iPlayer.
Stats for Ivory Coast v Scotland
- Ivory Coast reached the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations but lost to Egypt
- This summer, Scotland will be competing at the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998
- These two nations have never met previously
Prediction for Ivory Coast v Scotland
Ivory Coast
1
–
0
Scotland
It’s unlikely Clarke will let the handbrake off and play with a more offensive mindset.
Therefore, it should be another tight encounter and we fancy the Ivorians’ quality to edge it. Expect Diallo to have a say.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: 101greatgoals.com
