Scotland will end a World Cup wait of 10,219 days when they face Haiti on Saturday night.
When the Scots crashed to a 3-0 defeat in Saint Etienne to Morocco at the 1998 World Cup, the Tartan Army would have been horrified to know it would have been a lifetime before the next appearance.
In fact, it has taken 335 months, or 1,460 weeks, or 14,715,360 minutes since they were in another one.
Scotland have played a staggering 256 games since their last match at a World Cup - their first match after that World Cup came in September 1998 in a goalless draw in Lithuania - Jim Leighton and Ally McCoist's penultimate caps.
And their final warm-up game last week against Bolivia in New Jersey was their 853rd match in international football.
Scotland has failed to qualify for the past six World Cups of 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.
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Their biggest win in that time were 6-0 hammerings of the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar and San Marino and their biggest defeat was a 6-0 thumping in the Netherlands in the second leg of the Euro 2004 play-offs in November 2003.
Of the team that lost to Morocco at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard, only two players made their final Scotland appearances. Gordon Durie won the last of his 43 caps and Tosh McKinlay came on to win his 22nd and final cap.
Scotland have had eight permanent managers since then; Craig Brown, Berti Vogts, Walter Smith, Alex McLeish twice, George Burley, Craig Levein, Gordon Strachan and Steve Clarke and three caretaker ones; Tommy Burns, Billy Stark and Malky Mackay.
The youngest player since then to make his Scotland debut was Hearts' James Wilson, who was 18 years and 17 days when he made his bow as a sub in a 3-0 defeat to Greece.
And the oldest in that spell was Tynecastle team-mate Craig Gordon, who was 42 years, ten months and 20 days old when he played in Scotland's famous 4-2 win against Denmark last year.
A total of 11 players have been sent off since Craig Burley was dismissed in that night of misery in France 28 years ago - Matt Elliott, Maurice Ross, James McFadden, Steven Pressley, Stephen McManus, Gary Caldwell, Steven Whittaker, Robert Snodgrass, Charlie Mulgrew, John Souttar and Ryan Porteous.
And there have been five hat-tricks - two from Steven Fletcher against Gibraltar twice, Robert Snodgrass against Malta, James Forrest against Israel, John McGinn against San Marino and Che Adams against Liechtenstein.
