Scotland play their final friendly before Steve Clarke names his squad for the World Cup as the Tartan Army head to Liverpool to face Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Clarke was surprised and “disappointed” to hear some Scotland supporters booing the team after a 1-0 defeat to Japan at Hampden on Saturday, with the visitors earning a late victory through Junya Ito’s 84th-minute winner.
Scotland, who face Brazil, Morocco and Haiti in the group stages of the World Cup after qualifying automatically for the first time since 1998, wanted to face African opposition to help their preparations.
Ivory Coast are three-time champions of Africa and reached the quarter-finals of the last Africa Cup of Nations, and are currently 35th in the Fifa rankings, five places ahead of Scotland.
Clarke has said Scotland could make “six or seven changes” and confirmed he will look to field a different team to the one that started against Japan. Here’s everything you need to know
When is Scotland v Japan?
Kick-off at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium is at 7:30pm BST on Tuesday 31 March.
How can I watch it?
The match will be live on BBC Scotland as well as BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.
Confirmed Scotland line-up
Scotland XI: Kelly; McCrorie, Souttar, Hyam, Tierney, Robertson, Gilmour, Christie, McTominay, Adams, Hirst.
What is the Scotland team news?
There have been nine changes to the starting XI from the side that lost 1-0 to Japan at the weekend, with Liam Kelly replacing Angus Gunn in goal.
In defence, Ross McCrorie, Dom Hyam, Kieran Tierney and John Souttar come in, while in midfield Billy Gilmour and Ryan Christie return to the starting line-up. In attack, Che Adams takes the place of Lyndon Dykes, while George Hirst also comes in after a decent cameo against Japan.
Scotland squad for games against Japan and Ivory Coast
Goalkeepers: Scott Bain (Falkirk), Angus Gunn (Nottingham Forest), Liam Kelly (Rangers)
Defenders: Grant Hanley (Hibernian), Jack Hendry (Al Etiffaq), Dom Hyam (Wrexham), Ross McCrorie (Bristol City), Scott McKenna (Dinamo Zagreb), Nathan Patterson (Everton), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Andy Robertson (Liverpool), John Souttar (Rangers), Kieran Tierney (Celtic)
Midfielders: Ryan Christie (Bournemouth), Lewis Ferguson (Bologna), Billy Gilmour (Napoli), Andy Irving (Sparta Prague), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Kenny McLean (Norwich), Scott McTominay (Napoli), Lennon Miller (Udinese)
Forwards: Che Adams (Torino), Tommy Conway (Middlesbrough), Findlay Curtis (Kilmarnock), Lyndon Dykes (Charlton Athletic), George Hirst (Ipswich)
Why is the match being played in Liverpool?
Officially, the fixture is part of marketing agency Pitch International’s ‘Road to 26’ series - which has featured a number of games between teams who have qualified for the World Cup, staged at neutral venues.
The majority of the ‘Road to 26’ series has been played in the United States, such as the friendlies between France and Brazil in Boston, France and Colombia in Maryland, and Brazil and Croatia in Orlando, Florida.
Scotland’s match against Ivory Coast also falls under the series, but with the three-time African champion facing South Korea in Milton Keynes on Saturday and Scotland playing Japan in Glasgow, holding the match in Liverpool suited both parties.
Scotland will play Morocco during the group stages of the World Cup while Ivory Coast will face Germany, so arranging a warm-up test against African and European opposition also suited both nations ahead of the tournament.
The match works for Everton, too, with the £800m, 52,769-capacity venue set to host matches when the home nations stage Euro 2028. England’s Lionesses will also be playing a World Cup qualifier there, against Ukraine in June.
