Why Scotland's World Cup advancement chances as 3rd-place team need to root for Germany, Ivory Coast, Australia, Iraq, Egypt, Spain, Uzbekistan and Austria

Why Scotland’s World Cup advancement chances as 3rd-place team need to root for Germany, Ivory Coast, Australia, Iraq, Egypt, Spain, Uzbekistan and Austria originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Scottish national team has never advanced to the knockout rounds at a World Cup.

They’ve got a chance to do it in this expanded tournament as a third-place team, but they need some help. There’s a lot Scotland’s fans can root for in the days ahead to give themselves a better chance.

Scotland is done playing, so it’s just watching and hoping at this point.

The Athletic put out a new tool that shows how each match’s result can help or hurt Scotland’s chances of being one of the eight-best third-place teams.

We’ve picked out the key points there and have them here.

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Who should Scotland root for?

On Thursday, June 25, Scotland needs to root for Ivory Coast, Germany and Australia.

All three of those winners keep Scotland’s chances of advancing above 40%. Losses by those team lower the chances considerably.

On Friday, June 26, the key results needed are an Iraq win (or draw), a Spain win and an Egypt win. They have similar impacts to the Thursday result.

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Then on Friday, June 27, Scotland needs help from Uzbekistan (or a draw) and Austria.

If most of those results happen, Scotland will have a great chance.

If not, the Scottish fans’ hearts could be broken again.

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