Scotland won the right to play in the playoffs to retain their place in Division A.
The national teams of Croatia and Portugal played a draw in the match the last 6th round of the group stage of the 2024/25 Nations League. The match at the Poljud stadium in the Croatian city of Split ended with a score of 1:1.
Portugal approached this meeting as an early winner of Group A1 and a future participant in the 1/4 finals of the Nations League. The Croatians, however, needed to avoid losing to the Portuguese in order to reach the quarterfinals, so that their fate would not depend on the parallel match of this quartet between Poland and Scotland.
The Portuguese opened the scoring in the match in the 33rd minute – Joao Felix scored the winning goal.
In the second half, the “checkered ones” tried to recoup. In the 62nd minute, Josko Guardiola's goal was cancelled due to offside after reviewing the video replay (VAR).
But just three minutes later, Guardiol scored again and this time the goal was counted. After that, until the final whistle, the score did not change, so the Croatians, following the Portuguese, are moving from this group to the quarter-finals of the Nations League.
Review of the match Croatia – Portugal
In a parallel game, Poland lost to Scotland on their home field. The tense match in Warsaw ended with a score of 1:2.
Already in the third minute of the match, John McGinn put the Scots ahead. At the start of the second half, the Poles restored parity in the confrontation – in the 59th minute, Kamil Piątkowski scored.
The draw left Poland in third place, and sent Scotland to Division B. However, the Scots did not accept this. In the 90+3 minute, Andrew Robertson scored the winning goal, thanks to which the “Celts” won the right to play in the playoffs to retain their place in Division A. The Poles will play the next round of the tournament in League B.
Review of the match Poland – Scotland
Final tournament position in Group A1: advanced to the quarterfinals – Portugal (14 points) and Croatia (8 points), got into the playoffs to retain their place in the elite – Scotland (7 points), dropped to Division B – Poland (4 points).
The draw for the 2024/25 Nations League quarter-finals and play-offs will take place on Friday, November 22.
