Kieran Tierney, Scott McTominay and a wonder goal from the half-way line – Scotland seal World Cup spot

Last Updated on 18 November 2025

Scotland needed three unbelievable goals to seal World Cup qualification and they did exactly that in front of a packed Hampden Park.

Former and current Manchester United players threatened to ruin Scotland’s party but late, late drama helped Scotland secure a World Cup berth over Denmark after 28 long years.

International football has well and truly delivered during the November international break with many qualification games going down to the wire.

Scotland score THREE worldies to book their ticket to the World Cup 2026

Coming into the final round of World Cup group stage qualifiers, Scotland had to pull a rabbit out of the hat to get to the World Cup.

They had lost to Greece three days ago in heartbreaking fashion. Anything less than a win against Denmark, the group leaders, meant Scotland would have to take the tougher route to qualification.

But Hampden Park can be a scary place to go and Denmark got the full experience despite coming up with two important equalizers.

It all started with a Scott McTominay overhead kick that started the party in Hampden Park. A superb finish from one of the most underrated players in the world, right now.

Unfortunately for McTominay, his goal was cancelled out by fellow Napoli teammate, Rasmus Hojlund, who equalized from the penalty spot.

Scotland, once again, restored their lead 12 minutes from time through Lawrence Shankland from a corner only to have their hearts broken, again!

This time, it was Patrick Dorgu who scored to make it 2-2.

But the Scots had no plans of giving up. Kieran Tierney seized his moment in the third minute of stoppage time, slamming home from range to send Hampden Park into a frenzy.

But the cherry on the cake came in the 99th minute as Kenny McLean scored from the half-way line to seal a 4-2 win and book Scotland’s ticket to the 2026 World Cup.

Scotland to make first World Cup appearance after 28 years

That Kieran Tierney goal means that 2026 will be the first time a new generation of Scottish fans will see their nation in the World Cup.

The last time Scotland competed in a World Cup was in 1998, after losing last time out to Ukraine at Hampden Park.

This time around, though, they really played out of their skins. Under the leadership of Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson, they negotiated through the group stages with only one loss and one draw.

That one draw came away in Denmark, before Scotland won in 2-0 in Belarus, following it up with a big win over Greece in Scotland.

Then, they edged past Belarus, late through a Scott McTominay goal in a 2-1 win but fell to Greece. Denmark, as a result, were favorites coming into the final match of the group stages.

The rest, as they say, is history. For Denmark, however, all hope is not lost, as they still have a chance to qualify but they will have to win their qualifier knock-out to make the 2026 World Cup.