Scotland’s Euro 2024: Gordon & Souttar Cu

Goalkeeper Craig Gordon and defender John Souttar are the Scotland players set to miss out on Euro 2024.

Head coach Steve Clarke must trim his squad from 28 to 26 for the tournament following Friday’s home friendly with Finland.

Scotland will face hosts Germany in the opening match in Munich on June 14.

Clarke had already lost Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson, and Lewis Ferguson to injuries before assembling his provisional group.

Since then, Lyndon Dykes and Ben Doak have withdrawn, with Tommy Conway and Lewis Morgan called up to replace them.

BBC Scotland understands that Hearts veteran Gordon, 41, is expected to make an appearance against the Finns at Hampden, which would take him to 75 caps. He has played just seven matches since breaking his leg in December 2022, while fellow Tynecastle keeper Zander Clark now appears to be the established second choice behind Angus Gunn for Scotland.

Rangers centre-half Souttar has made nine international appearances since his debut in 2018. The 27-year-old missed the last three matches of the season due to injury but has been training with Scotland.

With four goalkeepers and seven centre-backs listed, the two cuts seemed likely to come from these ranks.

Clarke provided no hints during his media conference on Thursday afternoon, stating, “I’ve reached a decision. I haven’t had the conversation.”

When asked about the difficulty of the process, he said, “Almost impossible, but that’s my job. I have to do it. It won’t be nice, it won’t be easy, but we’ll deal with that between now and the deadline.”

The official deadline for squad submissions is midnight on Friday.