Scotland conclude their preparations for Euro 2024 by playing host to Finland in an international friendly on Friday night. While the home side are going through their paces ahead of travelling to Germany, this is Finland's last match before the UEFA Nations League which starts in September. © Reuters After Scotland took almost an hour to open the scoring against international minnows on Gibraltar, it was inevitable that criticism would come their way.
On the back of seven matches without a win, the Tartan Army did not exactly enter the match in free-flowing form, instead searching for a convincing performance ahead of this game and the upcoming tournament. From Steve Clarke 's perspective, though, he was quick to defend his players, feeling that they had been left "spooked" by the injury sustained by Lyndon Dykes that has ruled him out of Euro 2024. The amount of players missing the competition has since been extended to five with Liverpool winger Ben Doak the latest to withdraw from the group, subsequently being replaced by Tommy Conway .
While Scotland playing at Hampden Park has not necessarily been a frequent occurrence of late, it has been almost 12 months since they won on home territory, a 2-0 triumph coming against Georgia. © Reuters Scotland head into this contest defending an eight-match unbeaten record against Finland, albeit having not squared off against the Scandinavian nation since 1998. However, this feels like a stronger Finland side than Scotland would ha.
