Naismith optimistic Scotland can make it out of World Cup group

Scotland assistant Steven Naismith remains “very optimistic” about the country’s chance of progressing beyond the group stage of the World Cup, 100 days out from the tournament.

Scotland have never made it out of their group at the World Cup and face a tough draw in Group C, with five-time champions Brazil, 2022 runners-up Morocco and Haiti alongside them.

A 4-2 win over Denmark in their final World Cup qualifier saw Scotland qualify top of their group, ending their 28-year wait to play on the world stage again, having been absent since 1998.

And Naismith, who earned 51 caps for his country during his playing career, believes the current Scotland squad can create even more history in the United States, Canada and Mexico this year.

“If I’m honest, if you looked at the teams involved and our squad and where it’s at, before the draw even came out, I had a feeling that our aim, and the manager’s been very big on this way back to when we narrowly missed out in the Ukraine play-off, that we can’t not just get to the finals, we can definitely progress,” he told Sky Sports News.

“So I think the games are all going to be tough, the conditions are going to be tough, but that’s the same for everybody.

History hitting the wall

@adidasUK pic.twitter.com/LiU4TrCA2k

— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) February 20, 2026

“You’re playing against a lot of different nations that you don’t come up as much against. They’ll be tough games, but I definitely feel we’ve got what it takes within the group to progress and be the first team to do that at the World Cup.

“What we’ve got is a squad of leaders who are at their prime, playing at big clubs to guide the potential younger guys in the squad as well.

“So we are very optimistic. It’s going to be hard work, but we will definitely do all we can.

“This group have continuously excelled and made their own history. The next step, and what would be really nice for some of the guys, is to finish their career to be the ones that push through the group stage and into the knockout stages of a World Cup.”

Scotland have made eight previous World Cup appearances but failed to win any of their games in their last appearance in 1998 (D1 L2).

They last won a game in Italia 90, beating Sweden, with that only their fourth win in the tournament’s history.