Scotland set to face African opposition at English stadium as World Cup warm-up plans drawn up

With Morocco having been drawn in the Scots’ group, the manager was always keen to face an African team in the run-up. Also expected to be confirmed shortly is a friendly against Japan at Hampden in the same Spring international window. In addition, a send-off match against Curacao, who have qualified for the World Cup for the first time and are managed by Dick Advocaat, has been mooted for Hampden in late May/early June.

The clash with Ivory Coast is slated to take place in the north of England, with Liverpool – specifically Everton’s new Hill Dickinson stadium – the favoured venue. Newcastle United’s St James’ Park has also been mentioned as a possible location.

Scotland’s opening World Cup game against Haiti at Boston’s Gillette Stadium is now only 165 days away and Scotland assistant manager Steven Naismith has been speaking about the search for a World Cup base.

Competing countries must choose from a list of FIFA approved sites although they won’t know for certain where they are based until January. In the case of more than one country opting for the same camp, the higher ranked team will gain priority.

Naismith spent almost two weeks in the States prior to Christmas and went to exhaustive lengths running the rule over camps.

“Preparation has started,” Naismith told The Warm-Up podcast. “I think the biggest thing in the tournament will be travel. Some of the travelling is going to be quite big but everybody is in the same boat."It definitely wasn't a jolly up! The draw happened then you knew the region you were in, but that region is huge no matter where you are. [We were] doing our reccy trying to make sure we get the best base camp."

There were quite a few areas,” added Naismith, who revealed he and fellow SFA officials had visited “11 or 12 states” during the pre-Christmas trip. “I think with most games you are going to need to fly into the games. We've got two games in Boston, ideally you want to be as close to Boston as you can, but with the size of area and facilities, you're probably going to be a bit further out."