Scotland have been here before. Ending a major finals with a hatful of regrets and the nagging feeling that performances, like results, were sub-standard. The sense that taking part in tournaments is not the same as competing.
Under Steve Clarke, the national team have been excellent at reaching tournaments and nondescript once they have got there. Were results to somehow conspire to grant them a place in the last 32 of the World Cup by default, it would a condemnation of FIFA’s new 48-team format. The blunt reality is that Scotland don’t belong on this stage. They are simply not good enough.
