Scotland Learns from Summer Mistakes

On Saturday 17 June, Scotland will kick off their Euro 2024 qualifiers against Norway at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo. BBC Radio Scotland Extra will provide coverage of the match, while live text coverage will be available on the BBC Sport website and app, and highlights will be shown on BBC One Scotland and BBC iPlayer. Scotland assistant manager John Carver believes the team have “learned from our mistakes” after last summer’s defeats by Ukraine and Republic of Ireland, and have prepared better for these games. Most players attended a five-day training camp with some days of double training sessions. Much has been made of how Scotland will deal with Norway’s Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard, but Carver believes Norway will be just as concerned about facing Scotland’s midfielders like John McGinn, Scott McTominay and Callum McGregor. Scotland currently lead Group A after defeating favourites Spain at Hampden in their last outing in March. Carver believes it is important for Scotland to remain in the top two places at the halfway stage in order to qualify. He acknowledges that Norway have some special players and good teams around Europe, but believes Scotland have a force to be reckoned with too.