‘Scottish shackles of the past must be shaken during World Cup pursuit’

World Cup qualification Group C: Scotland vs Denmark

Location: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Tuesday, November 18 Kick-off: 19:45 GMT

Coverage: Watch on BBC Scotland, BBC Two & iPlayer, listen on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal & Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app

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The burden of history is everywhere you look.

Hampden Park, Glasgow. A football mausoleum of memories and moments, both awe-inspiring and poignant.

Walls of the place carry the spirit of the greats. Sir Kenny Dalglish dancing through the defences, Denis Law with his arms raised, a photo of James McFadden with a ball hanging in the Parisian air with a bemused Mickaal Landreau somewhere in the distance.

Walk deeper inside, the wide bowl of the national stadium opens. It was once a concrete cathedral that held the hopes of teams and fans who dreamed of actually winning a World Cup. Now, thick and silent under the cover of plastic chairs, the cavernous emptiness of the place reflects the void left since its modern reincarnation in the late 1990s.

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Since the redevelopment of Hampden, Scotland have not earned the right to go to a World Cup. The last time that worked, a lap of honor took place around a partially built-up Celtic Park.

History. That’s what Scotland has when it comes to the biggest stage of them all.

History. And now a glimmer of hope.

For the uninitiated, there are signs of aligned stars in Glasgow’s clear sky.

Scotland have stumbled, stumbled and stuttered their way through this campaign with the poise of a sumo wrestler on Strictly, but have managed to produce positive results.

They survived a first-half attack in Copenhagen to earn a valuable point. Mistreated at home by Greece? Somehow, Steve Clarke’s side claimed victory. They worked hard at it, but Belarus was also defeated twice.

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Even after Saturday’s chaotic defeat in Athens, Scotland was saved when Denmark inexplicably fell to Belarus, meaning Scotland win tonight and immortality – and a place in the World Cup – are theirs.

Yet these Scottish teams are masters of the dark art of unpredictability. Most of the time you’re not sure what you’re going to get.

For supporters who love their football team more than rinsing dish soap in fountains around the world, there’s no room for sentiment here.

The romance has eroded away for the Tartan Army. Nothing is written in the stars for Scotland.

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In the history of the national football team, there have been moments when you would think the football gods would say: “They’ve suffered enough, let’s give them a break”.

Leaving the 1974 World Cup without losing a match. Abandoned Euro ’96 in the cruellest way. Losing to Brazil by an own goal, only to return to France ’98 only to be overcome by Morocco. The following year he beat England at Wembley, but not enough, in a European Championship play-off.

You then have the more recent examples of trauma where you actually get to two euros, only to choke in the first game, get a credible draw in the second to keep it alive, and then make a mess of it on matchday 3.

All of the above should trigger a Queensferry Crossing-sized health warning for anyone heading down to Hampden Park on Tuesday.

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Clarke puts Scotland in the spotlight

That in itself is a backhanded compliment for Clarke, who has brought Scotland out of international exile to be within touching distance of a trip to the US, Canada and Mexico next summer.

Since the late and magnificent Craig Brown left the park at St. Etienne in the summer of 1998, six different Scotland managers have tried and failed to get the country to a major tournament.

Playoffs came and went. This also applied to the international careers of many players who earned more.

Then came Clarke in 2019. Kilmarnock’s messiah took the national team from losses in Kazakhstan to back-to-back Euros. He did this with a mix of Brown’s hard-to-beat mantra, an emerging talent and a slew of groundbreaking results.

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Spain defeated at Hampden. Norway turned around in their own backyard. Serbia surpassed it on penalties five years ago. Croatia let down in Glasgow.

Scott McTominay, John McGinn, Billy Gilmour, Andy Robertson. Some old and some new, but players with reputations and pedigrees to match who have lifted Scotland from the shadows of irrelevance into the spotlight.

That ascension has brought with it critical examination. Some of it was hard, some of it earned.

In the 2022 play-off semi-final against Ukraine, Clarke’s team fell apart on an occasion like this that meant so much.

Two euros have flown by without a single glove being laid on any of the opponents. Only three goals were scored in six games.

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These examples are warnings about the past, but they should be used as motivation for the here and now. As if that were necessary.

The moral of all this is that Scotland has so often failed to seize the opportunity it has taken for itself. The moment has passed.

On Tuesday this group has the chance to reach a World Cup. No obligations, no what ifs.

Denmark has been involved in five of the past seven World Cups, but like their host country, vulnerability lurks. There is a weakness exposed by the Belarusians that must be responded to ruthlessly. Conversely, the signs of intensity in Scotland’s second half in Greece should certainly be repeated from the start in Glasgow.

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There is an overwhelming feeling that Scotland’s fate on Tuesday depends not on what the crafty Danes do, but on what Clarke’s team can conjure up and generate on their own.

The quality is there. The incentive is there. The opportunity is there.

We are about to find out if the courage to take it is there.