Scotland to face England in November

adamhigginsuk
Jul 14, 2014
2 min read

Making the trip: Around 20,000 Tartan Army fans travelled to North London for last summer's friendly as the two nations met for the first time since 1999 (Picture from Press Association)

SCOTLAND will face England in an international friendly at Celtic Park on 18 November, the two nations have confirmed.

They met last August as England won 3-2 in a friendly at Wembley as part of the FA's 150th anniversary celebrations.

This return meeting will be the first since a Paul Scholes double gave England victory in the first leg of their Euro 2000 qualifying play-off to be played north of the border.

It will be staged at Celtic's 60,000-capacity arena while Scotland's national stadium Hampden Park is being restored to its usual state after hosting the Commonwealth Games.

Tartan Army boss Gordon Strachan expressed his delight in being able to take on the Three Lions once again.

"I am sure the players, the coaching staff and the fans will love the chance to go head-to-head with our oldest rivals again," he told reporters.

"I was really heartened by the performance against England at Wembley and believe we had a great opportunity to record a win we could all have talked about for years. Now, we have that chance again and I am sure the players and the fans will be even more determined to take it.

"The atmosphere at Wembley was incredible and I am sure with Celtic Park filled with Scotland supporters, it is a game the whole country will look forward to."

The meeting of the 'Auld Enemy' is the oldest international fixture in football with their goalless draw in November 1872 recorded as the first official match played between two associations.

It will be the 112th time the two British Isles nations lock horns with England having won 46 and Scotland 41 so far while there have been 24 draws.

Notably, the match will take place exactly two months after the Scottish public vote in a referendum to determine whether the country should become independent from the United Kingdom.

The last international played at Parkhead in Glasgow was Scotland's 6-0 demolition of the Faroe Islands in 2006.

Scotland take on Martin O'Neill's Republic of Ireland in a Euro 2016 qualifying tie on Friday, November 14 while England face Slovenia away from home in the same competition just three days before the planned friendly date.