Steve Clarke has named Scotland's 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup — and he hasn't played it safe. A 43-year-old goalkeeper who barely featured this season is on the plane. A young winger with a fraction of the senior caps is in. And Lennon Miller, who many had pencilled in as a certainty, is not.
Craig Gordon is 43 years old and has had an injury-hit season at Hearts. Clarke is taking him to the World Cup anyway. According to Sky Sports, Clarke believes Gordon "deserves" his place despite the limited game time — a show of faith in experience over form that will split opinion before Scotland have kicked a ball in North America.
It is, on paper, a gamble. But Clarke has never been a manager who picks on sentiment alone, and Gordon's reading of the game and command of a dressing room are harder to put on a spreadsheet than appearances made. Whether that logic holds up in a tournament is a different conversation.
Findlay Curtis gets his call-up — a winger whose inclusion signals Clarke is willing to back youth when the profile fits. Ross Stewart is also in, with BBC Sport describing him as a "big game scorer": the kind of forward you want around when the margins are tight and the occasion is large. Both names will be unfamiliar to casual observers outside Scotland, which is exactly the point — this is a squad with room to surprise.
Lennon Miller is not in the squad. No explanation has been reported from Clarke's camp as of yet, but his absence is the sharpest talking point of the selection. Miller had been widely considered a strong candidate, and the snub will generate noise throughout the international window. Clarke has form for making calls that look strange in May and sensible in July — but he'll need to be right on this one.
He didn't mention Miller's name in his public comments. He didn't have to.
Steve Clarke has named Scotland's 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup — and he hasn't played it safe. A 43-year-old goalkeeper who barely featured this season is on the plane.
Lähteet
BBC Sport — Football, Sky Sports — Football
Flagsiden jutut ovat omaperäisiä, monista lähteistä syntetisoituja kirjoituksia. Mainitsemme jokaisen median, joka ruokki juttua.
Yön otteluiden poiminta, mitä siirtoikkunassa tapahtuu, ja yksi kolumni, josta toimituksen pöytä väitteli. Ei mainoksia. Ei vinkkejä. Ei operaattoreita.
Yksi klikkaus poistaa tilauksesta. Emme jaa sähköpostiosoitteita.
“Stays on Scotland — different angle, same beat.”
Scotland will walk into their 2026 World Cup opener expecting to handle Haiti. That assumption might be exactly the problem. According to BBC Sport, Haiti have been quietly assembling a squad with gen
“Stays on Scotland — different angle, same beat.”
Scotland will walk into their 2026 World Cup opener expecting to handle Haiti. That assumption might be exactly the problem. According to BBC Sport, Haiti have been quietly assembling a squad with gen
