UEFA Under-19 EURO 2027 Qualifier: Round 1
Scotland 3-0 Poland
Tuesday, 31 March 2026 
The Albert Bartlett Stadium, Airdrie 

Scorers

Scotland 3: Mcgrath (1’), Smith (34’)  McCallion (80’)

Poland 0 

As it happened

Scotland’s dominant performance earned a confidence-boosting win over Poland. Goals from Jack Mcgrath, Alexander Smith and Aiden McCallion saw Scotland finish second in the group on 4 points behind Italy. 

There were five changes made to the Scotland starting eleven, as Neil MacFarlane brought in Zander McCallister, Euan Glasgow, Smith, Archie Traynor and Joseph Teasdale. Glasgow and Teasdale appeared in the starting line-up for the first time of the campaign. 

Scotland made a lightning start and stunned their opponents in the opening 12 seconds as Jack Mcgrath opened the scoring straight from kick off.

Poland hadn't even touched the ball yet when Teasdale control a long diagonal and crossed the ball into the middle for Mcgrath to finish powerfully at the near post to put Scotland ahead.

The first five minutes were filled with intensity, but Scotland started out visibly stronger than Poland, oozing confidence on the ball.

They had their first chance in the 11th minute when Filip Skorb attempted a shot on the volley, forcing Rydnn McGuire to make his first big save of the game. 

Poland continued to make their way into the Scottish box. Antoni Burkiewicz sent a ball into the six yard box. McGuire did well to keep this out with two important blocks on the line in the 25th minute. 

The 34th minute saw Scotland go 2-0 up through Alexander Smith. A ball from the back sent by McGuire was comfortably plucked out of the air by Jack Mcgrath who sent a ball in towards Smith. The unmarked midfielder took a touch before arrowing in a strong strike corner of the net to add a second to the Scotland tally. 

In the 40th minute Poland threatened again and passed up a huge chance. Mateusz Lauryn played a ball from the left wing to find the head of Pascal Mozie. Mozie however, could only head over the bar to pass up what was arguably Poland’s biggest chance of the night.  

The first big moment of the second half came in the 58th minute. Mcgrath linked up with Archie Traynor to find Smith, who rattled the crossbar in an attempt to score his second of the night. 

Mcguire continued to make a couple of big saves throughout the second half, when called upon, as the Polish side became bolder with their shots. First, in the 61st minute Polish substitute, Lenard Szczygiel, shot from outside the box and Mcguire got a strong hand to the shot to push it to safety. 

The shots from range kept on coming - this time for Scotland. In the 63rd minute, Smith also attempted from outside of the box but this effort was caught comfortably by Hubert Charuzy.

Tensions began to rise in and around the 65th minute when a penalty decision went the way of Poland. Antoni Burkiewicz went down in the box under pressure from Lewis Gillie. Poland however, failed to convert as skipper Sammy Dudek hit the left hand post.

The 67th minute saw McGuire make another big save as Szczygiel directed a header on target but the Scotland stopper was equal to it. 

Scotland would make the game safe in the 80th minute as Aiden McCallion scored his second goal of the campaign. Teasdale fed a ball to McAllister who beautifully crossed the ball to substitute McCallion, who took a superb touch before slotting the ball into the bottom right corner of the Polish goal to ensure the match finished 3-0

Scotland finished Round One of the Euro 2027 qualifiers with an impressive second place in the group behind Italy. 

Match Report by Emma Russell

Scotland Team 

Scotland: McGuire, McAllister, Gillie, Glasgow, Osborne, Mcgrath (North 87’), Masson, Smith (Boyd 79’), Traynor (McCallion 74’), Gilligan (Borland 87’), Teasdale

Unused substitutes: Shaw, Vallance, Carrol, Davidson