Another month is upon us (where on Earth is 2023 disappearing to…) and so we look forward to another crucial period for Scotland on the international stage.

Once again, the men are up first this Thursday with another crucial Euro 2024 qualifier. Whilst last month could have seen Scotland qualify if the right result had occurred between Norway and Georgia – and from what I understand the Norwegian keeper was the one that kept them in front in injury time in that game so it almost but not quite went our way – this is the first time Scotland will have the opportunity to qualify in our own hands.

It’s a pity that it comes away to Spain!

There’s no doubt that on paper this is our toughest match of qualifying. Away to the top seeds, a Spanish side who have become reigning Nations League champions since we last faced them at Hampden, against a team who will not only be looking to pick up the win to continue their own qualification hopes but also to enact revenge for the defeat we gave them back in March. Their feelings about how we played were well documented, with Manchester City’s Rodri particularly vocal about our tactics – footballing and psychological. I remember that game quite differently, particularly how it was Spain that were employing the underhanded tactics, but regardless of what I think they will no doubt use their grievances to motivate themselves.

Here’s the good news though – we don’t actually have to win to qualify. In fact, we could even lose and still qualify! Should Scotland avoid defeat, we will definitely qualify for Euro 2024. Although mathematically it will still be possible for both Spain and Norway to catch us should we draw in Seville, those two play each other a few days later and obviously can’t both win. So by the end of that game on Sunday, regardless of the result, only one of them would still be able to catch us.

Should we lose to Spain, then we still have two other opportunities to qualify and they both depend on what Norway do. Should they fail to win in Cyprus on the same night we play in Seville, we’ll qualify as they then won’t be able to catch us. When they beat Georgia last month, they removed them from the equation – Georgia already can’t catch us. However, should they beat Cyprus as will be expected, then as noted already, Norway host Spain and need to win that one as well to maintain their own hopes of qualification. If Norway don’t beat Spain, they can’t catch us.

So let’s just make that crystal clear. Scotland will qualify for Euro 2024 this month unless we lose in Spain AND Norway win in Cyprus AND Norway beat Spain at home. All three of those things have to happen to stop us. Anything else and we can get onto Duolingo to practice our German for next summer.

It would be amazing to do it ourselves in Seville. Not only would that mean the Tartan Army would have something huge to celebrate, but it would also massively increase our chances of winning the group outright and we would give ourselves a change at a better draw for the finals in Germany. The group winners get better seeding, and the group winning teams with the most points will get to be pot one – something we currently occupy with three games still to play given out 100% record. That’s something of which only Scotland, France and Portugal can currently boast.

But I’m also on a bit of downer after how September went. There’s no doubt we won the important game in Cyprus and that was the main goal of the last international break, but we looked a bit shaky at times in that game at the back and then the performance in the 150th anniversary celebration match against England left a lot to be desired. That England team were not great, save for one or two individual performances, but we stood off them and let them play however they wanted. Our players didn’t have the best of performances on top of that, and save for a fifteen minute spell in the second half – one which forced them to concede an own goal courtesy of the much maligned Harry Maguire – we gifted them that victory. We’re better than that, of that I have no doubt, but we’re going to need to show it against Spain in Seville and ideally against France in Lille in next Tuesday’s friendly match as well.

If a relatively average England men’s team were made to look good by Scotland’s men, it was the opposite story at the Stadium of Light where the women met in the opening Nations League match.

As much as the 2-1 defeat was a disappointing result in the end, the performance that Scotland put in against an exceptionally good England side who aren’t European Champions and World Cup runners-up by accident was something for which they should be very proud. Yes, the two goals conceded were almost identical and our defence could have attacked the ball like their goalscorers did, and yes there was a questionable decision to rule out another England goal at 0-0. But equally we were denied at least one and probably two penalties, we created the better chances before England finally did open the scoring, and we hit the bar in the second half with an effort that on another day might well have dropped into the net.

The thing that made me most proud though was being part of the 1000 strong travelling support for that match, in among 40,000 England fans. Oh how I wish we could somehow get the same interest in the women’s game back home. It was almost a disappointment to go along to Hampden a few days later to see just over 7,000 fans there. It’s a far cry from the attendances that we saw just a few years ago, and I have to admit these were only my second and third Scotland matches (and due to unforeseen circumstances I was unfortunately there alone rather than with my children so that didn’t help!), but it still feels like we could be doing better so soon after the World Cup that was broadcast on free-to-air television throughout.

Perhaps further success will help to build the fanbase up further. We certainly don’t have much say over the scheduling unfortunately, which sees all our home games on a Tuesday night and the Belgium match last month clashed with live Viaplay Cup action too. But if we’re going to build success, we’re going to have to do it the hard way. Like the men, the second game was a bit of a come down from the first. The intensity we saw against England just didn’t seem to be there against Belgium. Losing Emma Watson before the England game to what turned out to be the all too familiar ACL injury was bad, but it only got worse when Caroline Weir had to go off early against Belgium with what turned out to be the same injury. It’s well known that ACL injuries are rife in the women’s game right now, and hopefully whatever research is going on right now can help address that worldwide issue, but right now we’re without arguably our best player and one of our most promising rising talents for the rest of this Nations League campaign as a result.

Despite the injuries, Belgium still felt like a missed opportunity. We had chances in the first half but lacked that finishing quality. Belgium improved a bit in the second half and got the goal. Thankfully they passed up the chance to get a second which meant we were treated to some late drama with a last gasp equaliser. But after the euphoria of that moment had died down, in the cold light of day this was a game we could have and should have won. Now we are bottom of the group with just a single point, and a double header against Netherlands to come next – starting in the Netherlands on the 28th before getting them back to Hampden on Halloween. Let’s hope there’s nothing scary for Scotland there!

This is a bit of an odd group though. Scotland went toe to toe with England but narrowly missed out on taking anything from the game. We were not as good against Belgium but arguably still the better team. That Belgium team had previously beaten the Netherlands, and yet that same Netherlands team did manage to beat England! So maybe the takeaway from this group is that we’re exactly where we belong – with the best teams in Europe. We just need to make sure we play as we can and take our chances when they come.

There’s cause for hope and optimism and enjoyment in both the men’s and the women’s game, but there’s also plenty of areas where we can improve. If we can realise some of those this month, who knows where we might find ourselves going into November.

Looking up hotels in Germany hopefully!