It's FIFA Friendly Week again in soccer land, and there are several exciting matches on tap for the midweek fixture date that are sure to put excitement into the hearts of footy fans everywhere.
Argentina versus Brazil, England versus France, Holland versus Turkey, Sweden versus Germany, South Africa versus U.S.A., Portugal versus Spain, and Scotland versus Faroe Islands.
Wait, what?
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In a real-life football version of Sesame Street's One Of These Things Is Not Like the Other, the once-mighty Scotland squad seems to have rounded up the never-mighty Faroe Islands as its November friendly
opponent at Aberdeen.
The question that's begging to be asked is, "what's the point?"
Yes, international friendlies are little more than exhibition games designed to get squads together for a period while the manager runs the rule and figures out who will make the cut for the real games. But, they are also supposed to be competitive matches that allow the gaffers to see how his players perform in actual game time.
I'll put this out there right now: The Faroe Islands do not provide a competitive match.
If Canada were to schedule a friendly with the Faroe Islands, the outcry from the Voyageurs would be loud. There would be proclamations of the CSA's continued incompetence, shouts of "what a waste of time this is," and calls for Stephen Hart to enlist a U-20 'C' side to blood youngsters against such a weak opponent.
And all of it would be justified.
Yet here is Scotland, one of the keepers of our beloved sport, seemingly unaware that they are wasting their time with a cupcake opponent on one of the precious few FIFA international dates.
Why would they bother with a side ranked 133rd in the world? Well, it seems like the Scots actually want to play a punching bag to raise their spirits.
"It was my original intention to arrange a B international," Scotland manager Craig Levein told BBC Sport. "But after initial enquiries by our football administration department, it became apparent that it would not be possible to arrange such a game."
He then goes on to implore Aberdeen locals to support the match.
In the end, it's merely one friendly - one that Levein himself compares to a 'B' international - a year out from Scotland's next competitive fixture. But for a side that has fallen on hard times (to put it lightly), one would think that even a middling opponent would provide a better platform for experimentation than the one that they've lined up.
I mean hey, Canada's not doing anything this week.