John McGinn scored a brilliant goal to help Turkey produce one of the narrow football scores of the midweek action. Since neither country qualified for the World Cup in Qatar, this was the beginning of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaigns, yet for the first hour, Turkey appeared to be better prepared. Before crossing for former Liverpool defender Ozan Kabak (40), who was on loan at the time, to put the hosts in ahead just before halftime, the outstanding Hakan Calhanoglu tested Craig Gordon from distance twice in the opening minutes. At that free-kick, Scott McTominay and Grant Hanley made poor marking decisions, and Kabak had earlier hit the crossbar from a corner, making Scotland’s set-piece defense vulnerable.
Despite making seven changes from their Nations League promotion-clinching draw with Ukraine the last time out, Steve Clarke’s team was in trouble when Cengiz Under (49) managed to slip his shot through Scott McKenna’s legs after a swift counterattack. However, McGinn’s (62) evading runs from Caglar Soyuncu and exquisite finish into the far corner invigorated his teammates, who fought for an elusive equalizer during a significantly improved last 30 minutes. They saw a penalty claim rejected and had Jack Hendry head over the bar.
Gordon was up for a last-ditch corner as Scotland lost the game, but there was no turning back. Although their four-game winning streak came to an end, there was positive news to carry into their Euro qualifying. Scotland recently celebrated being promoted to Group A of the Nations League, a noteworthy accomplishment that demonstrated the progress the team had achieved under Clarke. Going into this friendly, they had a record of just two losses in 15 games across all competitions, proving that as well. However, for an hour in southeast Turkey, there was little indication that Scotland had advanced to become a top-tier European team.
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