First, South Africa beat South Korea 1-0 to snatch one of the top two places in their group, meaning South Korea – who have a better goal difference than Scotland – dropped to third.
After that, Ecuador produced an unexpected 2-1 victory over Germany to finish third in their group with four points and seal a spot in the last 32.
Sweden then held Japan to a 1-1 draw, also qualifying from third place with four points.
Scotland were down to an 6.89% chance of qualification after that, according to Opta, which decreased to 5.26% after Paraguay played out a stalemate with Australia which suited both sides.
Uruguay losing to Spain was some rare good news but Iran’s draw with Egypt leaves them with just a 0.42% chance of progressing.
Those results leave Scotland sitting 10th out of the 12 current third-placed sides and on the brink of missing out on a knockout spot.
If teams in the third-place standings finish level on points, the rankings are then decided by goal difference.
There are now only three groups left to be completed, and Scotland need numerous results to go in their favour.
They need Austria to beat Algeria by at least two goals, or for Algeria to win by four goals or more.
They also need Ghana to defeat Croatia by three goals or more and either DR Congo and Uzbekistan to draw, or for the latter to win by a maximum of three goals.
