Willie Miller has backed Scotland to reach the World Cup 2026 semi-finals following England’s painful exit in Qatar.
The Three Lions were unable to secure their last four spot at the 2022 tournament in Qatar after losing to world champions France on Saturday and now turn their attentions towards the next one being hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Many Scottish people were delighted with England’s failure with videos of fans celebrating Harry Kane’s late penalty miss going viral on social media.
Scotland were unable to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after losing to Ukraine in the play-off semi-finals and have not featured at the tournament since 1998.
They have never reached the knockouts of a World Cup – crashing out in the group stages every time they have qualified, with eight appearances in total.
But Miller, who featured for Scotland at the 1982 and 1986 tournaments, sees no reason why his country cannot go one better than their Auld Enemy at the next one in 2026 when the World Cup expands from 32 teams to 48 teams.
Miller, capped 65 times by Scotland, feels the nation can replicate the likes of Morocco and Croatia after they both reached the 2022 semi-finals.
‘If [Morocco and Croatia] can feature in the later stages of the big tournaments so should we,’ he told the Scottish Sun.
‘We’ve made strides under [Steve] Clarke with the players he has available, and you hope they have learned from the experience of the Euros.
‘It was disappointing because the players he has are capable of reaching major tournaments, and even going beyond the group stages.
‘It’s a strong squad who are a good age. Under my old Aberdeen team-mate Alex McLeish, Scotland brought in young players who were raw, and with most of the players barely being into double figures in terms of the caps.
‘Now we’ve seen them develop with experience and belief behind them. They seem to be gelling really well and the manager also has a good relationship with them.
‘All the ingredients are there for us to make qualifications and do that regularly.
‘And with the World Cup finals increasing qualifying numbers next time it gives us a great chance to get there.
‘Countries like Morocco, Switzerland and Croatia are great examples for the players to believe that they can do it. Why not us?’
England and Scotland met at Euro 2020 in the group stages, which ended in a 0-0 draw, as Steve Clarke’s side failed to reach the knockouts while England finished as runners-up to Italy.
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