Take the best Friday feeling you’ve ever had, multiply it by a thousand and you’re still nowhere near it: England v Scotland in the European Championship, at Wembley, on a Friday night. When the draw was made in November 2019, few of us twigged that England v Path C play-off winners (Wembley) would be such a big deal. It could have been England v Norway, England v Serbia or England v Israel.
Instead it’s England v Scotland, the oldest fixture in international football. The pre-match buzz is electric but also a peedie bit peculiar – the anticipation is as much about the occasion and the history as the actual football. Rightly or wrongly, reasonably or arrogantly, consciously or unconsciously, most people think England will win this match fairly comfortably. That’s rarely the case before such a blockbusting match.
Then again, that’s one of the reasons this fixture has a unique appeal. It’s part historical conflict, part Hogmanay piss-up, part FA Cup third-round tie. Scotland are 9/1 to win, 4/1 to draw - but then the greater the odds, the bigger the opportunity. While England are playing for three points, Scotland are playing for three points and two counts of immortality: a win at Wembley and a giant step towards reaching the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time.
The Tartan Army have arrived en masse, having misread the 20:00 kick-off time as an official Uefa request to provide 20,000 of their most determined pleasure-seekers. The mood is great, the weather is crap, the stage is set. May the best team win!
Kick off 8pm.
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3cU739J
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