Scotland team to play Denmark: teenage gamble, hat-trick hero has to start, man we can't wait for

By Alan Pattullo

Chief Football Writer

Published 4th Sep 2025, 12:16 GMT

Updated 4th Sep 2025, 12:18 GMT

Alan Pattullo picks his Scotland team to face Denmark - and there are some big calls

Scotland’s World Cup qualification campaign begins on Friday night when Steve Clarke’s men face Denmark at Parken Stadion in Copenhagen.

The Scots have six matches in Group C - two against the Danes, Greece and Belarus - with the top team qualifying automatically for next summer’s tournament in USA, Canada and Mexico. The second-placed team will earn a play-off tie in March next year.

All eyes are now on the Danish capital as this current crop of Scotland players bid to get the nation to a World Cup for the first time since 1998.

Here is the team I would go for to get the job done in Copenhagen:

Is it better to pray a goalkeeper is in form than to put faith in one who clearly isn't? Zander Clark's international prospects might have been brighter had he not been playing for Hearts. Sadly, his shaky form at club level has counted against him. No one is quite sure how Gunn is faring – he’s not been seen since hobbling off against Iceland. Now warming the bench at Nottingham Forest, he still seems the best bet.

1. Angus Gunn

Is it better to pray a goalkeeper is in form than to put faith in one who clearly isn't? Zander Clark's international prospects might have been brighter had he not been playing for Hearts. Sadly, his shaky form at club level has counted against him. No one is quite sure how Gunn is faring – he’s not been seen since hobbling off against Iceland. Now warming the bench at Nottingham Forest, he still seems the best bet. | SNS Group

Play your best players, fans will urge Steve Clarke. Hickey is certainly one of those though he can’t be expected to be anywhere near up to speed after just a dozen or so minutes in the Brentford first team after nearly two years out through injury. In a short campaign, Clarke’s can’t afford to wait for him to reach optimum fitness.

2. Aaron Hickey

Play your best players, fans will urge Steve Clarke. Hickey is certainly one of those though he can’t be expected to be anywhere near up to speed after just a dozen or so minutes in the Brentford first team after nearly two years out through injury. In a short campaign, Clarke’s can’t afford to wait for him to reach optimum fitness. | SNS Group

There are no worries about his match fitness. He has been in the thick of things with Rangers and if anything might be in need of a rest the way things have been going for his club. Let’s hope he can put the last time he played abroad - for Rangers in a 6-0 defeat by Club Brugge - behind him.

3. John Souttar

There are no worries about his match fitness. He has been in the thick of things with Rangers and if anything might be in need of a rest the way things have been going for his club. Let’s hope he can put the last time he played abroad - for Rangers in a 6-0 defeat by Club Brugge - behind him. | SNS Group

Now playing for Dinamo Zagreb, the globe-trotting Kirriemuir native is at a stage where his experience is bearing fruit. Clarke might be specifically drawn to the player’s familiarity with Denmark’s Parken stadium, which was his home ground for a while when on loan at FC Copenhagen from Nottingham Forest.

4. Scott McKenna

Now playing for Dinamo Zagreb, the globe-trotting Kirriemuir native is at a stage where his experience is bearing fruit. Clarke might be specifically drawn to the player’s familiarity with Denmark’s Parken stadium, which was his home ground for a while when on loan at FC Copenhagen from Nottingham Forest. | SNS Group

Scottish Premiership