KANSAS CITY – The good news for Scotland’s vast travelling horde of have-a-good-time heroes is that those with the deepest pockets and lots of annual leave can spend another week on the pop while they wait to see if their national team has qualified for the knockouts. The bad news is everything else.
Scotland have been a brilliant addition to this tournament as a cultural experience. Boston has fallen in love with their droves. The Boston Globe released a statement thanking them for their kindness and generosity. There is talk of city twinning with Glasgow and the New England Patriots playing a regular season game in Scotland.
On some level, this is exactly what World Cups are supposed to entail. But focusing only on that presents Scotland as a competition winner; to do so would be patronising and inappropriate. World Cups are also about displaying a level of competence.
Steve Clarke signed a new contract ahead of this tournament – but has he earned it? (Photo: Getty)Scotland have offered none of that, barring a 15-minute period when they put Morocco under pressure and even that failed to produce a shot on target. In fact, they didn’t manage one of those between John McGinn’s goal against Haiti and a Scott McTominay header that was easily saved by Brazil’s Alisson in the 49th minute in Miami.
Against Haiti, Scotland recorded a lower xG figure than their opponents. Against Morocco they conceded within the first two minutes. Against Brazil, they blended those two forms of ineptitude into one display. Scotland gifted Brazil goals at both ends of the first half, were fortunate not to be further behind and barely laid a glove on their opponents. Spirit of the underdog? More like the performance of a minnow.
The list of flaws is embarrassing. Scotland have tried to play their way out of defence with short, risky passes that they have repeatedly proven themselves incapable of doing without error. The attacking impetus has been missing, not least because the line-leader has changed often and the best striker – Oli McBurnie – is at home.
One great frustration is how the best players have been blunted. McTominay has looked clunky, played either too high up the pitch and isolated or roaming too far from goal to try to actually touch the ball. McGinn and Lewis Ferguson have also been too deep, largely to collect those risky passes from central defenders.
But the soundtrack to it all, the underlying beat to this shonky rhythm, is the abject lack of intensity with and without the ball. Where was the high energy of the Denmark win that brought them here? Certainly the absence of Hampden atmosphere is not applicable given the tens of thousands who made Boston and Miami a temporary summer home.
This matters because of what happened before. Scotland have won one of their last nine matches at major tournaments. At Euro 2024 they took one point and finished bottom of the group. On the eve of this tournament, Steve Clarke said that he hadn’t enjoyed his previous two tournaments and that we would see a different version of him in the US. We haven’t.
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And this matters because of what happens next. Clarke signed a new contract before this tournament. It was supposed to be a symbol of trust in him, motivation and certainty for the squad to finally take steps forward. They might still get lucky and qualify. The round of 32 might provoke a revelation. But it needs to for that contract extension to be justified.
Those of us who follow our clubs and countries far and wide quickly learn that allowing the result to spoil the day is a fool’s errand. Scotland are the best example of that this summer: no Scotland, no party – no shots on target, still party.
That should not let Clarke and this squad off the hook. Scotland look like a team unready for this tournament, undercooked tactically and in both penalty areas. Which is completely unacceptable when you have waited 28 years for these weeks.
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