2026 World Cup: Instant classic goals send wild and weird Scotland through after 28-year wait

Scotland is finally going back to the World Cup following a 28-year wait after a wild win capped a truly weird qualifying campaign.

The Tartan Army of kilt-clad fans are now making plans for a midsummer trip to the United States, Canada and Mexico thanks to a victory in 90-plus minutes in Glasgow Tuesday that summed up their rarely glorious and mostly agonizing World Cup history.

Three instant classic goals – two of them in stoppage time, one from the halfway line – sent Scotland to an improbable 4-2 win over favored Denmark at raucous Hampden Park.

The standings in the four-team group show Scotland top by two points clear of Denmark and heading to a first World Cup since 1998.

What the table does not say is how the Scots were totally outplayed in much of each home win against Greece, Belarus and a Denmark team that still looked far superior playing the last half hour with 10 players.

“I thought we were pretty rubbish to be honest, but who cares?” midfielder John McGinn quipped in a post-game interview with the BBC.

Scotland only had a chance to advance Tuesday despite losing another strange game in Greece three days earlier. Denmark, which now faces the jeopardy of European playoffs in March, left the door open to the Scots because lowly Belarus somehow got a 2-2 draw Saturday in Copenhagen.

“We’ve had a lot of trauma as a Scotland team, a lot of hits,” the 31-year-old McGinn said, “but tonight to get over the line was such an amazing feeling.”

The emotion was raw for captain Andy Robertson, who later revealed he spent part of Tuesday in tears in his hotel room thinking of his long-time Liverpool teammate Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car crash in July.

Scotland’s undisputed greatest goal had been Archie Gemmill’s solo dribble and strike against the Netherlands at the 1978 World Cup – a 3-2 win that was not enough to advance and is a symbol of the nation’s heroic soccer failures.

It was immortalized in a racy scene by celebrated actors Ewan McGregor and Kelly Macdonald in the signature Scottish movie “Trainspotting.”

It has competition now.

An acrobatic bicycle kick by Scott McTominay, hanging in the air to stretch out a telescopic right leg, put Scotland ahead in the third minute.

At 2-2 in stoppage time, substitute defender Kieran Tierney hit a sweet first-timer that spun and curled into the net from 25 meters.

“I will never, ever feel like that on a football park again,” said McGinn, who acknowledged he began thinking with dread about the playoffs just two minutes before Tierney’s shot.

The fourth goal came from more than 50 meters, inside Scotland’s half of the field, with the last kick of the game, Kenny McLean lofting the ball over goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel into an empty net.

Robertson had a close relationship with the late Portugal forward Jota.

“I couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today,” the 31-year-old told the BBC. “Today I’ve been in bits. I know that the age I’m at, this could be my last chance to go to the World Cup.

“We spoke so much together about the World Cup. He missed out on Qatar (at the 2022 World Cup) because of injury. I missed out because Scotland never went.”

“We always discussed what it would be like, going to this World Cup. I know he’ll be somewhere smiling over me tonight.”

Scotland’s goalkeepers since September were two men who have not had a single minute of game time for their clubs this season.

And one of them turns 43 next month.

Craig Gordon is now the back-up at Scottish league leader Hearts. He was needed by coach Steve Clarke to play his 83rd national-team game Tuesday because of injury to Angus Gunn, who is third-choice at Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League.

Gordon was error-free against Denmark after making key saves Saturday in a 3-2 loss against Greece that threatened to be a blowout before Scotland’s second-half rally.

He might well be the oldest of any among the 1,248 players due to be selected for the 48 World Cup rosters in June.

On Dec. 5 in Washington DC, Scotland will learn its three opponents in the group stage – aiming to advance to the next phase at a World Cup for the first time at the eighth attempt.