Scotland will take on Austria in the matchday 1 of the 2022 World Cup qualification Group F on Thursday. The kick-off is at 20:45 CET.

Preview

The Scots will long remember 2020 not only for the Covid-19 pandemic but for reaching the European Championship - their first major tournament since 1998. Now Steve Clarke's men will be looking to make it to next year's Mundial in Qatar with Austria and Denmark being their biggest challengers in the Group F. Nevertheless, Scotland ended 2020 with back-to-back defeats at the hands of Israel and Slovakia despite going nine games unbeaten prior to that.

The Austrians, who will also feature at this summer's Euros, also haven't made it the World Cup since 1998 and thus will be hoping to kick-off their road to Qatar on a high note. Moreover, Franco Foda's side look to be favourites to claim all three points in Glasgow as they'll travel to Scotland on the back of six consecutive matches without a defeat, including five wins and one draw.

David Marshall remains to be the biggest doubt in the hosts' squad after a lengthy spell on the sidelines while Austria's Julian Baumgartlinger is unavailable through an injury.

Prediction

With the Scots struggling a bit to find the back of the net over the last 12 months and the Austrians netting 14 goals in their last eight outings across all competitions, we'd say that it's the visitors who are likely to start off their 2022 WC qualification with a victory. On the other hand, we can't envisage a goal fest taking place at Hampden Park.

Tip

Total under 2 at 2.17 with 1XBET.