Despite the fact that they have four more World Cup qualifiers left to contest, Gordon Strachan's Scotland will make the trip to Croatia on Friday evening with just pride to play for.

They are bottom of their group, with just two points from six outings.

With that in mind, Strachan may make a handful of changes to his team, especially because Gary Caldwell, Scott Brown, Lee Wallace and Liam Bridcutt have all been ruled out with injuries.

Having impressed for Hibernian last season, Leigh Griffiths may be handed a role up front, while Steven Hammell could come in at left-back.

Meanwhile, the hosting Croats will be without former Tottenham Hotspur duo Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka through suspension.

They go into this match second behind Belgium in the standings and full of confidence, as highlighted by striker Ivica Olic, who was quoted as saying recently that his nation would "win by two or three goals" against the Scots.

Recent form

Croatia: DWWWWW

Scotland: LLWWLL

Possible starting lineups

Croatia: Pletikosa; Srna, Simunic, Strinic, Lovren; Kranjcar, Rakitic, Vukojevic, Perisic; Mandzukic, Eduardo

Scotland: Marshall; Hammell, Hanley, Webster, Whittaker; Conway, McArthur, Morrison, Naismith, Snodgrass; Griffiths

Sports Mole says: 3-0

Written by
Liam Apicella

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