The Scots celebrate their first World Cup in almost 30 years

The Scots have secured a place in the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

Steve Clarke’s team won 4-2 against Denmark after a thrilling match in which they scored a late goal from the halfway line at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

The national team had to win the match to qualify, and a draw or loss meant a playoff to reach the 2026 tournament, which will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Fans traveled from all corners of the country to watch the match, with buses of fans leaving from Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and everywhere in between.

Scotland will find out who they will face next summer on Friday 5 December.

Prime Minister John Swinney posted on social media: “Fabulously well done. A pleasure to see such an amazing and energetic performance.”

Scott McTominay scored first with a bicycle kick after just three minutes, but Denmark fought back to equalise.

Scotland took the lead once again after Lawrence Shankland put a corner kick into the net, but Denmark fought back to make it 2-2 with 10 minutes remaining.

In extra time, Kieran Tierney scored for Scotland to book their place at the World Cup, before Kenny McLean made it 4-2 from his own half with just seconds left.

Scotland captain Andy Robertson told BBC Scotland: “It will go down as one of the best nights of my life.”

And he added: “We have put the country through this, but I am sure it is worth it. We are going to the World Cup.”

One fan who had lost his voice told BBC Scotland: “It means everything. I was only seven when we went to France.”

He added: “I predicted the second goal and I predicted the third goal, but I didn’t predict the fourth goal. But honestly, it’s absolutely incredible.”

Another fan leaving Hampden Park said: “Absolutely incredible, the atmosphere was tremendous. When it was 2-2 we thought that was it, we were going to the play-offs. But wow, incredible.”

He said he had watched the match with his eldest son, adding: “I have been a passionate fan since I was a child, I traveled everywhere with them and took my eldest son 28 years ago, the last time we qualified.”

When asked if he will be at the tournament next year, he said: “Hopefully. My daughter is getting married, so maybe I’ll ask her to postpone.”

Another fan added: “I was at France 1998. I grew up in an era where we qualified all the time.

“This is for the younger generation. They can go see Scotland play in the World Cup.

“The whole country is going to be full.”

The Church on the Hill pub in Glasgow is a stone’s throw from Hampden and a piper welcomed hundreds of revelers before kick-off.

Fans flooded the pub after the match, including Colin McLean and his son Andrew.

Colin said: “I think I’ve missed two games in 20 years. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

When asked if they would go to the World Cup next year, Andrew said: “That depends on what I get for Christmas.”

David Alexander and his cousin Fiona Cullie also attended the match.

“People say we’ve had good luck in this campaign,” David said. “But if you think about it, we’ve been unlucky for years. It’s about time.”

Fiona added: “It was unreal in the stadium. Something to remember for a lifetime.”

Scotland last qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France under the management of Craig Brown.

The tournament saw them lose to Brazil and Morocco, and draw with Norway. They came out in the group stage of the tournament.

What followed was a two-decade drought in major tournaments for the men’s national team.

They failed to qualify for six consecutive World Cups and missed five consecutive European Championships.

Under Steve Clarke, they returned to Euro 2020, their first in 24 years, but again finished bottom of their group.

They qualified for Euro 2024 and won consecutive euros.

In the current World Cup qualification, Scotland drew 0-0 with Denmark, beat Belarus twice and Greece once at Hampden.

They faced Greece again at the weekend in a match they felt they had to win or draw to retain hopes of automatic World Cup qualification.

Scotland lost 3-2 that night.

But Belarus’ shock 2-2 draw in Copenhagen meant Steve Clarke’s side still had a chance of finishing top of Group C if they beat the Danes, giving the team one more chance of automatic qualification.

After the game, a clearly emotional Clarke paid tribute to his team.

“This was the opportunity. A game. It was like a play-off final. We put everything on the line,” he said.

“There’s always one last step, and it’s always the hardest. Reassure them, make them feel comfortable, let them know they can handle the occasion.

“Some moments of the game went in our favor. We were 2-1 up against 10 men, but we conceded and thought ‘what are we doing?’

“But that’s the Scottish way.”