Why Scotland haven't been eliminated from the World Cup despite not being in the top eight third-placed teams

Scotland are on the brink of elimination from the World Cup as they currently sit outside the top eight third-placed teams; yet while this may be the case, they have not yet been knocked out of the competition.

Steve Clarke’s side opened their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Haiti before suffering defeats to Morocco and Brazil.

Immediately after the defeat to the five-time world champions on Thursday, it left their status in the competition hanging by a thread as they would need to wait for other results to confirm whether they would carry on their summer in North America.

While Scotland sits ninth among the third-best-placed teams at present, several groups have not been confirmed, leaving them a chance to progress if results go their way, even if Clarke believes they are going home.

At the time of writing, Croatia and Algeria are currently in the top eight-thirds best-placed teams, but they are only above the Scots thanks to a better goal difference.

Getty Images

Should Croatia lose by three goals to Ghana in their final fixture, they would drop below Scotland in the table, while if Algeria were to lose by two goals to Austria, they would fall below Clarke’s side.

Meanwhile, Scotland will be keeping an eye on three other fixtures, as they could have an important role to play in their progression in the competition.

In Group H, if Egypt beat Iran, the team in third place would finish on just two points, no matter what happens between New Zealand and Belgium.

Scotland needs Spain to beat Uruguay. It would see Uruguay finish third on only two points in the group, leaving them behind Scotland as the best third-placed team in the competition.

The final result the Scots will be hoping goes their way is a first-ever point for Uzbekistan in the World Cup, with the Asian nation needing to win or draw against DR Congo. However, if Uzbekistan were to win, Scotland would be hopeful Fabio Cannavaro’s side does not win by four or more goals.

While it may seem impossible for all these results to go in Scotland’s favour stranger things have happened in football and so there is still hope for progression in the World Cup this summer.