Soccer: Luck of the draw pipes in Scotland

Scotland have been dealt a major boost in the quest to find a new manager after the national team scraped into the group of second seeds for the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.

It had been feared that Austria's last-gasp 1-1 draw in Israel had relegated the Scots into the third seeding spot among the also-rans of Europe.

But the Scottish Football Association confirmed that the Austrians needed to win the tie in Tel Aviv in order to leap over the Scots into 20th position in the Uefa rankings.

"According to our calculations, we will be seeded second," association spokesman Andy Mitchell said.

"The draw was a great result for Scotland."

The national side could have been thrust into a nightmare scenario of being paired with, say, France and Holland in one of 10 five-team groups for Euro 2004 qualifying.

Such a prospect may well have dissuaded potential candidates from taking over from Scotland manager Craig Brown, who has had the side for eight years.

Remaining in the second group of seeds, albeit by the most slender of margins, also wipes out any chance of an "Auld Enemy" clash with England after the draw takes place in Oporto on January 25.

The 10 group winners will join hosts Portugal in the finals, while the 10 runners-up will compete in playoff matches for the last five places.

World and European champions France head the first group of seeds, with the seedings having been calculated from results in the qualifying campaigns for Euro 2000 and next year's World Cup.

Austria, who equalised through Andreas Herzog's injury-time free-kick at the weekend, must now content themselves with a two-legged World Cup playoff against Turkey next month.

First group of seeds: France (holders), Sweden, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Turkey.

Second seeds: Russia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, England, Ukraine, Slovenia, Scotland.

Third seeds: Austria, Norway, Slovakia, Israel, Switzerland, Iceland, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary or Cyprus.

- AGENCIES