International
2006-09-06 - Lithuania vs Scotland
A Sports Betting Pick by Gooner
It's been a while - but the Tartan Army are starting to stir again - and there are signs that taking Scotland to win away from Hampden Park could be a very profitable play on Wednesday night.LITHUANIA
Firstly, Lithuania scored a great result in Italy on the weekend, earning a point in a 1-1 draw against the defending World Champions.
And while it may seem strange that this is good news for Scotland - the facts are that it was a point earned through defensive grit, determination and an huge slice of luck. There was little to actually enthuse over.
But that result will put pressure onto the Lithuanian side to actually come forward and try to win this game - and that transition from determined defence to dominant attack is a difficult one to master for the best of sides.
Lithuania have a 3-3-7 home qualifying record in their last three competitions with wins over San Marino (4-0), the Faroe Islands (2-0) and back in 2003 they also beat Scotland (1-0).
SCOTLAND
Scotland became a bit of a laughing stock during the last few years, but there have been good signs of improvement through 2005 and 2006 and the Scots will travel in good spirits after a 6-0 demolition of the Faroe Islands on the weekend.
Throw in the fact that Scotland actually have won their last two away qualifiers against Norway (2-1) and Slovenia (3-0) and you can see that the goals and the result have been coming.
This is a very tough group for Scotland with World Cup finalists France and Italy both included as well as quarter finalists Ukraine too.
But if Scotland are going to ever get easier draws then they need to earn ranking points so that they are seeded higher, and that starts by winning games like this.
THE VERDICT
I'd like to see Scottish manager Walter Smith stick with an attacking side - but I fear that he'll drop back into 5-4-1 formation with Kenny Miller operating as a lone striker, but this was used to good success against both Norway and Slovenia.
I see no reason for Lithuania to be rated so highly by the bookies, other than that 1-1 draw in Italy, which I'm putting down as a freak result.
So they've done us a favour in getting a bigger price on Scotland - which I'm taking.
The Pick :
Lithuania 0-2 Scotland
