World Cup qualification: Draw pits England, Scotland together

France, Netherlands also drawn in the same group, so were Spain, Italy

SAINT PETERSBURG: England boss Roy Hodgson believe his side’s pairing with Scotland for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers will provide clashes of an intensity rarely seen in the preliminary stages.

The oldest sides in international football were drawn together along with Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta at a grand ceremony in Saint Petersburg to officially launch the competition.

However, despite the attention garnered by the clash with their neighbours, Hodgson admitted he was happy to avoid the likes of Italy and France in the draw.

“It’s not a walk in the park, but I think it could have been an awful lot harder,” he said. “I think the Scotland games will be the two games in the qualifying stages that really excite everyone and ignite the imagination and we’ve got to be up for it.”

Despite the seemingly easy draw, Hodgson warned his side against complacency. “You don’t play the fixtures on paper, you play them on the field,” he said.

As well as their old enemy, Scotland are likely to have to overcome a strong challenge from Slovakia and Slovenia to claim at least a playoff place.

Slovakia are well on course to qualify for Euro 2016 having won all six of their qualifiers to date, including a 2-1 win over European champions Spain last October.

Slovenia, meanwhile, matched England for long spells in a thrilling qualifier in a friendly in June before a late Wayne Rooney winner handed the visitors a 3-2 win.

Other important clashes

France and the Netherlands in Group A will provide two of the standout matches from the qualification campaign but will face stiff competition from Sweden.

In Group D, Spain and Italy meet in a repeat of the Euro 2012 final which Vicente del Bosque’s men won convincingly 4-0. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th,  2015.

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