The draw for the 2026 World Cup has been made ahead of next year’s tournament in USA, Mexico and Canada with several tasty ties including Scotland meeting Brazil for the fifth time at the finals
Steve Clarke was handed another daunting showdown with Brazil – but the Scotland boss insisted it was a “great group.”
Incredibly, Scotland have now drawn Brazil in five of the last seven World Cups they have qualified for and the South Americans beat them in their last appearance in the tournament in 1998.
Scotland boss Clarke, who will also face Morocco and Haiti, said: “It’s a good draw. It’s a great group. I didn’t want any European teams, I wanted teams from different continents and we got that. Three great teams to play against and something to look forward to next summer.
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“You see how the draw was going on and teams were getting pushed down and I thought we were going to end up in that section.
“Brazil is always a good game and it’s nice to get them.
“But Morocco is also a tough opponent and it’s two teams who, the last time we were at a World Cup, were teams that beat us.
“So hopefully this time we can do a little bit better against them.”
Canada boss Jesse Marsch has said he is to ready to renew rivalries with Wales boss Craig Bellamy – but admitted he would rather Italy make it through their qualifier.
Marsch was involved in a bust-up with Bellamy when the two nations met in a friendly earlier this year.
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Former Leeds boss Marsch said: “Look, Bellamy said he wanted to play us and Wales is in there.
“Bosnia is a really good team, Northern Ireland are in there – it’s a really competitive group and people will be expecting Italy to come out of it, but it’s not going to be easy for Italy.”
The draw also threw up a huge clash between France – in a tough Group also featuring Senegal – and Norway and a potential showdown between two of the world’s best strikers in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
