On Tuesday evening, Scotland will play host to England in a much anticipated international friendly at Celtic Park. This match has been circled on the calendars for months now.
Scotland have vastly approved in recent time under the watchful eye of Gordon Strachan. They are currently sitting in fourth place in group D only on goal differential to the current World Champions Germany. Shaun Maloney scored a wonderful goal against the Republic of Ireland this past Friday late in the match after they worked a short corner kick as the Wigan Athletic winger struck with just fifteen minutes to go at the same park this match will be at.
Andy Robertson has been a revelation for the Scots of late. Just eighteen months ago he was playing for Scottish League Two side, Queen's Park. Now, he's making giant strides in Hull's first team and the national team. At just 20 years old, there seems to be no ceiling for this young defender.
"Some of our younger players won't have experienced this type of atmosphere before in their careers. It will be hard-fought and competitive but I don't expect it to be an unnecessarily physical game. I'm hoping it will be a competitive match between two good teams," Hodgson on his younger players.
Meanwhile, England did not play very well for the first 57 minutes of the match against lowly Slovenia, a side many expected to be swept away rather easily. Although they have won all of their matches since the end of the World Cup, they have been unimpressive. England simply do not play football the way people are expecting them to do so and it's always cause for alarm when it looks as if they are playing down to their opposition.
People will wonder what formation and line-up will be put in place tomorrow evening. Will Hodgson stick with the diamond formation, or will he experiment with something new? We will have all the answers in less than 24 hours.
It will surely be a fantastic occasion between two storied footballing nations. Scotland will look to prove that they deserve to be among the big boys. Meanwhile, the English faithful will be looking for the three lions to put a pounding on their rivals to the north.