Just In: Scotland Hit by Double Blow as Ex-Celtic Midfielder Makes Surprising Return

Stuart Armstrong has returned to the Scotland team for the first time since Euro 2024, after two players withdrew from the upcoming Nations League matches against Croatia and Poland.

The Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder returns from international exile, having missed the last two squads picked by Scotland head coach Steve Clarke. Armstrong, 32, was without a club following his summer departure from Southampton, before joining fellow Scotland international Ryan Gauld in Vancouver in early September. The former Celtic midfielder has subsequently made 11 appearances for the MLS club, scoring two goals and providing two assists, and will now have the opportunity to add to his 51 caps.

His last international appearance was in a 1-0 defeat to Hungary in the final group encounter of Euro 2024, where he was controversially denied a penalty kick as Scotland failed to advance to the knockout stages of a major tournament, much to their disappointment.

Armstrong’s late call-up followed the withdrawals of Che Adams and Lewis Morgan. Adams was nominated to the Scotland team last week, despite suffering a thigh injury when playing for Torino in a 1-0 home loss to Fiorentina the previous weekend. The striker was forced off the game after only 17 minutes of the Serie A match, and he missed Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Juventus in the Turin derby. It has been announced that the 28-year-old will not be linking up with his Scotland teammates this week.

Morgan, who was awarded the 2024 MLS Comeback Player of the Year last week following a remarkable season with the New York Red Bulls, where he scored 13 goals and assisted seven times in 29 games, has also been dismissed from the roster. The 28-year-old forward returned to the Scotland national team at Euro 2024 after a six-year absence, and he has kept his place in the last two Nations League camps, making three substitute appearances in those four games, but he will not play in the remaining two fixtures against Croatia and Poland.

Scotland face Luka Modric and his team at Hampden on Friday, November 15, before flying to Warsaw on Monday, November 18, with Clarke’s men needing to win at least one of the two games to avoid relegation back to Nations League B.

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