Goals from Che Adams and Scott McTominay saw Scotland beat Belarus 2-1 to secure a top-two finish in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Group.
Adams fired Scotland into a 15th-minute lead at Hampden Park, Glasgow, from Jack Hendry’s pass albeit after a Video-Assistant-Referee (VAR) review, with the goal having initially been disallowed for offside by the fourth official.
McTominay wrapped up victory with a 84th-minute finish on the turn from Andrew Robertson’s cross.
Gleb Kuchko however denied the hosts a clean sheet with a 95th-minute finish from Nikita Korzun’s pass.
Scotland sat top of UEFA Qualifying Group C after the win but were displaced by Denmark just hours later, as the Danes beat Greece 3-1 at home to secure their and Scotland’s top-two finishes in the group.
Knowing that victory would put them on the cusp of a top-two finish which would be confirmed if Greece lose to Denmark in the evening kick-off, Scotland initially struggled to settle against a re-energised Belarus who had lost 6-0 to the Danes on Thursday evening.
Belarus almost opened the scoring from a 11th-minute corner by Valery Gromyko but Pavel Zabelin headed the delivery over the bar, before Adams rifled wide of his near-bottom left corner on a Scottish counter-attack moments later – albeit via . Fydor Lapoukhov’s deflection.
Scotland eventually broke the deadlock in the 15th minute after a cross was cleared out to Hendry who teed up Adams to turn and rifle into the far-left corner, although the offside flag initially went up until VAR ruled that the offside decision was incorrect and awarded the goal instead.
Belarus were lucky to not fall further behind after Zabelin fouled Adams as the latter met Andrew Robertson’s 33rd-minute cross inside the box, yet Romanian referee – Marian Barbu refused to award a penalty.
Ben Gannon-Doak almost doubled Scotland’s lead with a 44th-minute solo strike but Lapoukhov crucially denied him to keep Belarus a goal down at half time.
Scotland upped their intensity in the second half as Kenny McLean rifled wide then Lapoukhov saved Scott McTominay’s shot.
Controversy however brewed in the 58th minute after Yegor Parkhomenko wrestled and tugged Adams to ground as the pair battled over a loose bouncing ball, yet Parkhomenko proceeded to handball with a glancing hit of his right hand when on ground.
Barbu however consulted with VAR and adjudged Adams to had also handballed in the incident, which saw Scotland’s appeal for a penalty overturned.
Amidst Scotland’s fury, Belarus equalised in the 63rd minute through Yevgeny Malashevich’s finish into the bottom-right corner, but Barbu disallowed the goal after a VAR review found that Yevgeny Yablonskiy fouled McTominay in the build-up to the goal.
Scotland regrouped and almost doubled their lead in the 70th minute after Adams chested Doak’s cross into the goal, but Barbu ruled that Doak was offside as he lined up the cross.
Belarus’ resilient defending eventually was broken in the 84th minute after John McGinn won possession just inside the box, which was eventually worked towards Robertson whose cross was smashed in on the turn by McTominay to double Scotland’s lead.
Scotland eventually saw the game out despite Kuchko’s 95th-minute consolatory finish for Belarus, and secured a top-two finish after Denmark ended Greece’s mathematical hopes of a top-two finish in Copenhagen with a 3-1 victory.
What’s Next?
Scotland face a crucial trip to Greece at Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, in their penultimate match of the group on Saturday 15 November at 9:45 EET (7:45pm GMT).
Steve Clarke’s Tartan Army conclude their campaign on Tuesday 18 November against Denmark at Hampden Park in a 7:45pm kick-off, which could be a winner-takes-all automatic qualification showdown.
Belarus wrap up their group phase with a trip to Denmark on 15 November then face Greece in Hungary on 18 November, with both matches held at 8:45pm CET.
Teams
Scotland: Angus Gunn, Anthony Ralston (Tierney 72′), Jack Hendry (Souttar 72′), Scott McKenna, Andrew Robertson, Kenny McLean, Billy Gilmour (Miller 88′), Ben Gannon-Doak (Bowie 91′), Scott McTominay, John McGinn, Che Adams (Dykes 88′)
Substitutes: Connor Barron, Kieron Bowie, Lyndon Dykes, Craig Gordon, Grant Hanley, George Hirst, Max Johnston, Liam Kelly, Lennon Miller, Josh Mulligan, John Souttar, Kieran Tierney
Belarus: Fydor Lapoukhov, Vadim Pigas (Melnichenko 56′), Yegor Parkhomenko (Demchenko 91′), Alyaksandr Martynovich, Pavel Zabelin, Yevgeny Malashevich (Kuchko 83′), Maks Ebong, Yevgeny Yablonskiy (Karpovich 91′), Kiryl Pechenin, Valery Gromyko (Korzun 83′), German Barkovsky
Substitutes: Maksim Belov, Nikita Demchenko, Vladislav Kalinin, Sergey Karpovich, Nikita Korzun, Gleb Kuchko, Ruslan Lisakovich, Leonardo Mascaro Kapilevich, Trofim Melnichenko, Maksim Myakish, Ruslan Myalkovsky, Pavel Pavlyuchenko
Referee – Marian Barbu (Romania)
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