Scotland confirm World Cup warm-up clash with former AFCON champions at EPL stadium
Scotland have confirmed their third pre-World Cup friendly.
Scotland have announced that they will face former AFCON champions Ivory Coast in a pre-World Cup friendly in March.
Set to take place at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium, the two nations will meet on Merseyside as part of Steve Clarke’s sides’ pre-tournament preparations, with friendlies against Japan and Curacao already confirmed little over a week ago.
Scheduled to be played on Tuesday, 31 March, the national team will head to the 52,769 capacity stadium just 72 hours after their friendly game with Japan, which takes place at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Saturday, 28 March.
Their third warm-up match will come against Curacao, who are managed by former Rangers manager Dick Advocaat, with the Saturday, 30 May friendly billed as the team’s Hampden farewell, before the squad jet off for a pre-World Cup camp in North America shortly afterwards.
It’ll be the first ever international clash between the two sides, with Scotland having never faced Emerse Faé’s in their history. The African giants will join Scotland at next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, having been drawn in Group E of the competition. They’ll face Ecuador, Germany, and Curacao in the summer, with the team set to play two of their fixtures in Philadelphia and the other in Toronto.
“We’re pleased to confirm Ivory Coast as our second opponents for the March international window, following on from Japan’s visit to Glasgow,” said Scotland head coach Clarke. “We wanted to face African opposition before we play Morocco in the summer, and I’m sure Ivory Coast will give us a really stern test. It will also be good to play at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool. The supporters will enjoy the opportunity to visit the new stadium.”
Scotland Supporters Club members hoping to attend the game against the Ivory Coast have been told they’ll be able to purchase tickets directly from the SFA in order to receive their loyalty points, with the date for the fixture to be confirmed in due course. Scotland are also reported to be in negotiations to face Peru in June in the United States in their final pre-World Cup game.
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