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.
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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.
