Scotland suffer defeat but retain hopes of World Cup qualification
Greece 3 - 2 Scotland
Scotland find themselves within a single match of their first World Cup appearance since 1998, after Denmark’s draw with Belarus kept an unlikely route open on a breathless night
Author | Sean M
Stadium | Stadio Georgios Karaiskáki
Just after the hour in Piraeus, Scotland trailed 3-0 to a Greece side already out of contention, while Denmark were edging ahead against Belarus in Copenhagen. Goals gifted far too cheaply to Tasos Bakasetas, Konstantinos Karetsas and Christos Tzolis appeared to end any realistic hope of automatic qualification, leaving March’s play-offs looming.
Then the script tilted. Belarus equalised, and within three minutes Ben Gannon-Doak rifled in his first goal for Scotland at the very moment Nikita Demchenko put the group’s bottom side into a scarcely believable lead in Copenhagen.
As word filtered through to the Scotland bench, Ryan Christie headed in to reduce the deficit, on a night littered with narrow escapes, missed sitters and no shortage of fortune.
Denmark restored parity to set up an even more frantic finale in both matches, while Greece captain Bakasetas’ dismissal lifted Scotland further. Substitute George Hirst saw another effort cleared from near the line before Scotland were left relying on the world’s 103rd-ranked nation to withstand pressure from the group’s top seeds.
Belarus did just that. Now Scotland stand a single victory from ending a 27-year wait for the World Cup stage.
🙏 A huge thank you to our travelling support for your fantastic backing tonight.
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) November 15, 2025
Safe travels home – we'll see you again on Tuesday night.#GRESCO pic.twitter.com/flWHyw723Q
Where to begin with the analysis of that one?
For much of the opening 40 minutes, Scotland were alarmingly fragile at the back.
John Souttar was inexplicably caught underneath a long goal-kick, allowing Vangelis Pavlidis to test Craig Gordon. The goalkeeper produced a fine stop, as he would several times across the night, but Bakasetas reacted quickest to drive in the rebound.
There were shaken heads on the touchline; it felt as though the warnings issued by Greece in Glasgow last month had gone unheeded. Moments later, Mikkel Damsgaard had put Denmark ahead in Copenhagen.
Scotland staggered towards the interval, fortunate to trail by only one, before Scott McTominay rattled the crossbar with a fierce strike from distance. It came from nowhere but injected a flicker of belief.
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Che Adams then passed up a glaring chance, his reaction echoing Chris Iwelumo’s after his notorious miss against Norway, a measure of how substantial an opportunity it was. Gannon-Doak soon burst clear and attempted to roll in an equaliser seconds before the break, only to squander another golden opening. The sense grew that the night was destined to unravel.
Steve Clarke had spoken previously of the anger he summoned at half-time against Belarus and his reluctance to rely on it too often. This felt like an occasion that required it.
The renewed vigour after the restart was abruptly checked by 17-year-old Karetsas, who bent a superb finish beyond a goalkeeper a quarter of a century older. Tzolis’ third was another setback, yet Gannon-Doak struck soon after from a Ryan Christie cross, before turning provider for Scotland’s second.
A flurry of chances came and went as tension grew on one of the most dramatic nights in recent memory. It might have been far worse, and it might easily have been far better.
Now the task begins again on Tuesday.
