World Cup 2018 England Happy After Being Drawn With Scotland For Qualifiers

England and Scotland have been drawn together in a qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup.

Roy Hodgson’s Three Lions join Gordon Strachan’s Scotland in Group F, alongside Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta.

England have not faced Scotland in a competitive international since 1999, when they met in a play-off for a place at the Euro 2000 finals.

Hodgson is excited by the prospect of facing Scotland having won a friendly at Celtic Park last November, and he feels his opposite number Strachan will also be content.

“The Scotland fixture really does excite people,” the England boss said.

“We have got recent experience of what the atmosphere will be like. The games will excite the public, get people in the mass media excited too, it is a good draw all round – I think Scotland will be happy with it and we are happy with it.”

Wales, top seeds alongside England for the draw, were paired with Republic of Ireland, Austria, Serbia, Moldova and Georgia in Group D.

Northern Ireland have been handed a tough task alongside world champions Germany, Czech Republic and Norway in Group C, which also includes minnows Azerbaijan and San Marino.

Reigning European champions Spain face a rematch of the 2012 final as they were paired with Italy in Group G. The big guns will expect to have too much for Albania, Israel, Macedonia and Israel.

Group A looks to be another tough section with Netherlands, France and Sweden being joined by Bulgaria, Belarus and Luxembourg.