GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — John Souttar scored in his first international game for three years to give Scotland a 2-0 win over Denmark in World Cup qualifying on Monday and secure a home draw in the playoffs.
Denmark had already won Group F but Scotland spoiled the European Championship semifinalist's perfect record as they aimed to win 10 games out of 10.
Scotland put pressure on Denmark from the start and won a succession of set-pieces. John McGinn swung Scotland's eighth corner deep to the far post, where Liam Cooper nodded it back for Souttar to head in. He hadn't played for Scotland since a red card against Israel in October 2018.
“I went through a lot in the last year and I was just looking forward to it and I didn’t expect anything like this to be honest and it was brilliant,” Souttar told broadcaster Sky Sports.
“It was a total blur. We worked on that corner during the week, and thankfully we scored from it, just delighted.”
Denmark substitute Mikael Uhre miskicked an excellent chance straight at Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon in the 85th. A minute later, Scotland made Denmark pay as Ché Adams charged in behind the Danish defense on the counter and scored.
Scotland will enter the playoffs in March along with 11 other teams who finished second in qualifying groups or else had a good record in the UEFA Nations League. They will be placed into four-team brackets to play for the three World Cup spots on offer.
Elsewhere in Group F, Israel finished third after beating the Faeroe Islands 3-2 in a tense finish, and Austria won against Moldova 4-1.
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