Gosh, it comes round again.

The draw for the European qualification round for the 2022 World Cup (to be held in Qatar) was made today.

Scotland’s fate could have been worse I suppose – we managed to avoid holders France, world ranked no 1 Belgium and also Spain, England, Germany, Italy and Portugal, nemeses in previous qualification campaigns, but Denmark, Austria and Israel (yet again drawn in a group with Scotland) are no mugs; and I always get the fear over games against countries like the Faroe Islands and Moldova.

Our last two games were 1-0 defeats too let’s not forget, but I’ll give the team a pass on those as they were hungover (in the nicest sense I hasten to add) from managing to reach the Euro finals.

Pittodrie Stadium, 16/11/10.

I only watched the highlights but the performance looked good. The three goals all came from the same source, though – corners from the right not properly cleared – and better sides than the Faroes will not be so vulnerable.

However, Scotland have in the past struggled to score against opponents like this so the result is not to be sniffed at. It was also encouraging to see young players come in and do well.

Bigger tests await, though.