England and Scotland will be coming up against each other in a competitive game yet again and manager Roy Hodgson is already looking forward to this feisty encounter. The two teams first played against each other back in 1872 and this is seen as more of the oldest rivalries in world football.
Further, England and Scotland are the oldest football playing nations. The duo will be facing each other on November 11, 2016. They have been brought together for the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifier. Even though England are extremely disappointed not to be hosting this tournament, they will relish the prospect of overcoming Scotland once more.
Scottish football has been on the decline over the last few years and this is especially true in the case of the national team. While the likes of Wales have recovered sufficiently, Scotland are yet to become a top nation in world football. They have shown signs of resurgence under Gordon Strachan, but they will have to go a long way before overcoming the memories of the defeats in 2013 and 2014 against England. Hodgson says that he is already looking forward to the atmosphere before and during the game. The reverse fixture with Scotland hosting England will take place in June 2017.
“The atmosphere really is everything it’s cracked up to be and it sort of lives up to its type, if you like, of one of the fiercest national team derbies.We knew that we were going to get teams that were more than capable, so we can’t be too surprised Slovakia and Scotland came out. I think we’ve got to be happy for our fans.The journeys are very useful ones or easy ones for them compared to what they could have been, and also fixtures like Scotland really do fire the imagination of the fans,” said Hodgson.