Not long after his debut for loan club Real Sociedad, Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney went out on international duty with Scotland, starting in a European Championship qualifier away to Cyprus.
Playing as a left-centre-back, Tierney put in a strong display. On the ball, the defender completed 89% of his passes, creating two chances, and completing all four of his attempted dribbles.
Tierney was up for the physical battle, winning six of his seven individual ground duels, and he made one interception and two tackles without being dribbled past once.
The result of Tierney’s defensive efforts was another clean sheet for Scotland in a 3-0 win, their fourth clean sheet in their opening five games of qualification.
Scotland have won all five matches, giving them a perfect record with just three games remaining of qualification.
Though it’s worth mentioning that Spain could easily end up hot on Scotland’s heels.
Spain currently only have six points to Scotland’s 15, but they have two games in hand to potentially cut that gap to three, with a home game against Scotland still to come.
The good news is that two countries will qualify from the group. As long as Scotland can avoid also being caught by Norway or Georgia (both on four points after four games), they’ll qualify for the Euros.
To put it simply, Scotland need two points from their remaining three games. Perhaps only one point, given the strength of their goal difference.
They’ll have to be patient, however, with no more qualifiers to play until October. Scotland’s second game of the September break is a friendly against England.
