Steve Clarke insists he is giving no consideration to which pot Scotland end up in at Euro 2024 as he focuses on trying to end their successful qualification campaign on a high against Norway at Hampden on Sunday.
The Scots sealed their spot in Germany last month, with two games to spare, and will learn who they will face in the group stage when the draw is made in Hamburg on Saturday, December 2.
A victory by two goals or more against Norway this weekend would likely lift the Scots into pot two, while any other result is set to place them in pot three.
Given the way things are shaping up – with the likes of Albania, Hungary and Turkey among the teams on course to be in pot two – there is a school of thought among Scotland supporters that they may have a chance of an easier draw by remaining in pot three.
“Honestly, zero, I haven’t looked at it,” said Clarke when asked if he had given much consideration to the permutations. “It doesn’t concern me.
“The main objective was to be there. Pot two, pot three… it’s all speculation because you don’t know how the other games are going to pan out so we’ll go out and do our best to win the game and then we’ll decide after that whether we want to be in pot two or pot three.”
Asked how significant it would be to go to the tournament as a pot two team, Clarke said: “Not significant at all in my mind. I don’t think too much about it.
“I just want to win game to game and make sure we’re always competitive whoever we play. We were seeded in pot two in the draw for this campaign and we want to be a pot two team going into the World Cup campaign.
“If we can get to pot one, it would be great but that’s a long way away at the moment.”
Clarke’s main objective at present to is to stop a four-game run without a victory and ensure Scotland end a memorable campaign on a high at a sold-out Hampden.
“It’s always important to win,” he said. “We haven’t won for a while. We want to finish the campaign well in front of our own supporters at Hampden, so hopefully we can do that.”
That task will be made slightly easier – in theory – by the fact Norway and Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland misses the match due to an ankle injury sustained in Thursday’s friendly against Faroe Islands.
“It’s probably a little bit of mixed feelings,” Clarke said when asked about the striker’s absence. “I think for the crowd it would have been great to see a player of Erling Haaland’s standard at Hampden.
“It would have been good for the defenders to test themselves against a top striker but unfortunately he’s not fit.
“If you asked me that question me before a game that really meant something I’d probably be sitting here saying ‘yes, I’m delighted he’s not playing’ but for the game tomorrow, I think it would have been better if he played.”
Haaland gave Norway the lead with a penalty in the last meeting between the teams in Oslo in June before Scotland roared back with two goals in the closing minutes to claim arguably the most pivotal result in their qualifying campaign.
“It was a pretty dull game on a very hot, sunny afternoon,” recalled Clarke. “For us, it was about staying in the game as long as possible. Towards the end of the game I took a central defender off, went to a back four and stuck another attacking player on and thankfully it worked for us.
“We got the equaliser at a good time and almost immediately before Norway had a chance to realise what had happened we were 2-1 in front and for the section, for the qualification of Scotland, it was obviously a big moment in the tournament.”
Second-placed Scotland go into their final qualifier six points clear of third-placed Norway, who remain without a major tournament appearance since Euro 2000.
Clarke believes the fact his team were able to win their first five games, while Norway failed to win any of their first three was the main difference between the sides.
“The way the fixtures fell for us was good,” said the Scots boss. “We had three home fixtures to start and we managed to get maximum points from those fixtures.
“Going to Norway when we did and getting the 2-1 win put the qualification into our hands and fortunately we didn’t let it slip. Group football is a sprint, it’s only eight matches.
“You can’t really drop points early in the group because you put yourself under pressure later in the group. It’s normally Scotland that does that, to be fair!”
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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