Scotland's World Cup draw: the dream opponents, group of death and last-32 chance

The date to etch into your diary is Friday, December 5. The World Cup draw is scheduled to take place at the Kennedy Center in the United States capital of Washington D.C. Proceedings kick off at 5pm GMT and will be streamed live on FIFA’s website.

There are 48 places up for grabs at the World Cup. We know the identity of 42 teams, with six others looking to make it through the play-offs. At the time of writing, these are the teams already assured of a place in the tournament: Canada (hosts), Mexico (hosts), United States (hosts), Japan, New Zealand, Iran, Argentina, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Qatar, England, Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast, Senegal, France, Croatia, Portugal, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Scotland, Panama, Curacao, Haiti.

In terms of the play-offs, the draw for the European and intercontinental editions will be made on Thursday.

There are 16 teams vying for four European places, and they are: Italy, Denmark, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Sweden, Romania, Northern Ireland and North Macedonia.

In the intercontinental play-off, the teams involved are DR Congo, Iraq, Jamaica, Bolivia, Suriname and New Caledonia. Two of those nations will make it to the World Cup.

The play-off matches take place at the end of March next year. All of the above teams will be in the hat on December 5, so they will know exactly what is waiting for them should they be successful.

How the World Cup draw works and format

With an expanded World Cup, there will be 12 groups of four teams at the World Cup. The top two teams in each group plus the eight best-performing third-placed sides qualify for the last 32. In short, it is the best chance Scotland has been presented with to do something they haven’t done: reach the knock-out stages of the World Cup.

For the draw itself, FIFA will divide all the teams into four pots, using world rankings to determine the list. While the exact positioning has not been set in stone, Scotland are set to be a Pot 3 team when the draw is made at the start of next month. The full breakdown of the pots can be found below as it stands:

Pot One: United States, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.

Pot Two: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.

Pot Three: Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Tunisia Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Panama, South Africa.

Pot Four: Curacao, Jordan, Haiti, Cape Verde, Ghana, New Zealand, UEFA Playoff 1, UEFA Playoff 2, UEFA Playoff 3, UEFA Playoff 4, Intercontinental Playoff 1, Intercontinental Playoff 2.

The best and worst-case scenarios

So with that in mind, what would be the best draw for Scotland? And who do we not want to face?

The Pot One teams contain the three host nations, and despite their home advantage, they are probably the weakest teams in that section. World champions Argentina and European champions Spain are among the best in the business. England, France and Netherlands all skooshed their groups. Brazil? No thank you, we’ve been there, done that - on more than one occasion.

Germany and Portugal both lost matches in their qualification campaign and could be deemed as one of the weaker sides. But let’s face it, Canada or the USA would be the two best teams to land from that section.

Pot Two is loaded with really, really handy sides too. Scotland can only play one other European nation in the groups, so there is a decent chance Morocco (semi-finalists in 2022), Colombia, Uruguay, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador and Australia could lie in wait. The European trio in that pot of Croatia, Switzerland and Austria would be tricky.

Uruguay were not especially convincing in CONMEBOL qualifying, while Australia are well known to Scotland given some of their squad play in the Premiership.

We can’t get a Pot Three team, while Pot Four is laced with unknowns. The obvious one to avoid would be Italy should they navigate their way through the play-offs. Ghana are one of the better teams from Africa and would be a dangerous opponent.

There are some new faces in pot four. The tiny nation of Curacao made it through at the expense of Jamaica in the early hours of Wednesday morning, alongside Haiti. Jordan and Cape Verde also look attractive opponents.

In terms of geography, given some of the sweltering conditions expected in the Americas next summer, being based in the southern states of the US or Mexico would present a challenge. Being in Canada’s group would ensure matches in Toronto, Seattle and Vancouver. Those who remember the last World Cup in USA (1994) and Mexico (1986) recall incredibly difficult temperatures and humidity.

The landscape will become much clearer on December 5. But for now, here are The Scotsman’s group of dreams - and the Group of Death.

Group of Dreams: Canada, Australia, Scotland, Haiti.

Group of Death: Argentina, Morocco, Scotland, Italy.