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.
Had the SFA held off on that new four-year contract for Clarke, there would have been a clamour to shake hands and part company this morning. To say, ‘Thanks for the memories’ and move on.
Yet those who think that the team’s problems are a black-and-white matter, entirely down to the manager’s tactics – his innate caution, even his brusque approach to flash zone post-match interviews – take a simplistic approach. Picking Oli McBurnie or Lennon Miller or going with a 4-3-3 formation against Brazil would have solved nothing.
A team is only as strong as its weakest link and in central defence, attack and the goalkeeper positions, Scotland are short of players of the level required to compete against two teams in the top 10 of the FIFA rankings.
The goals conceded over three games in Group C were a consequence of careless human error. Against Morocco, Grant Hanley switched off and misjudged an offside call. Against Brazil, Scott McKenna came in and made a hideous error in possession which gifted Vinicius Junior his opening goal. Brazil’s No.7 added to his tally before half-time after a poor pass from Andrew Robertson and a lapse in concentration from Nathan Patterson at the back post.
While Clarke can’t claim to have got everything right – Brazil was never the game for Lawrence Shankland – he is entitled to expect more than that at this level. He can’t be blamed for the individual decision making or errors of professional players or for the fact that, for the second tournament in succession, the ‘big’ players like Scott McTominay and John McGinn exerted little or no influence on games.
While Scotland have players performing with big clubs at a high level, the team offers more perspiration than it does inspiration.
Lewis Ferguson and Jack Hendry – who had good tournaments – offer the robust physicality every team needs.
McGinn’s upper body strength, shielding of the ball and high-energy pressing makes him a fine footballer when Morgan Rodgers is playing alongside him. While McTominay brings height, box-to-box athleticism and aerial presence, other players in the team don’t have the quality that Brazil and Morocco have in every position.
They also boast a level of technical ability and invention Scotland don’t have and Clarke wants to work with new chief football officer Craig Mulholland to address the fact that the nation simply is not producing central defenders, goalscoring strikers or goalkeepers.
Too few offer the pace, the power or the athleticism required to compete on the biggest stage and, pretty soon, the last three tournaments will start to feel like the very best of days if young players with talent continue to disappear into a reserve team in England, or find the path to first-team football in the William Hill Premiership blocked by cut-price jobbers from Shrewsbury Town and Morecambe.
Speaking after Brazil, Clarke was asked if there were wider, systemic issues preventing Scotland from competing at major tournaments.
“The short answer to that is yes,” he said. “I think when you see the physicality, the power and the technique of both Morocco and Brazil, you can see that we have to try to do something of our own.
“We have to try and be better at producing young players that can grace the world stage.”
Clarke suspects that Scotland will be heading home from America this weekend, depending on results elsewhere. Returning to their North Carolina training base in Charlotte, there was always the worry that it might come to this. That the management and team would spend these days moping around a hotel like condemned men preparing themselves the hangman’s noose.
While Scotland retain a mathematical chance of securing qualification for the knockout stages as one of eight best third-place group finishers, no one believes that they deserve any such thing.
While they forced some efforts on target at 3-0 down, Brazilian keeper Alisson dealt with them all comfortably.
The failure to score more goals against Haiti – or even one against Morocco and Brazil – surely sealed their fate.
Despite a first win at the World Cup finals in 36 years, three points and a goal difference of minus three seems unlikely to secure progress. And, in light of the performances, few would regard them as worthy qualifiers.
Clarke and his players are already preparing themselves mentally for the fate of every Scotland team contesting a World Cup since 1954. An early flight home.
“It was a very disappointing performance,” the manager acknowledged. “If you give away chances like we did tonight you are going to be punished. And that’s what happened.
“Our chances at the moment? I think we are probably going home.
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“The first thing the players have to do is go away and compute their performance and why we lost the game in the manner we did. That’s the first thing we have to do and then we can worry about the rest later.”
It was Scotland’s misfortune to be in the only group featuring two teams in the FIFA top ten. Playing Haiti first, criticism of the failure to score more goals overlooks the fact that they were fortunate to win the game in the first place.
It’s hard enough to beat Morocco or Brazil playing a perfect game. While the team should have had a penalty against the Qatar semi-finalists, losing an awful goal after 70 seconds killed them. They fared little better against Brazil when McKenna’s heavy touch in his own area allowed Bournemouth winger Rayan to deflect the ball into the path of Vinicius Junior for a simple finish after seven minutes. There and then they were done for.
“I think it was self-inflicted,” Clarke acknowledged. “Listen, we are playing a top-quality team and we know they are deadly in the attacking third of the pitch.
“And we gave them for sure the first two goals and probably the third goal as well. We gave them those goals but on the counter-attack as well they missed a few chances and Angus Gunn had to make some good saves.
“It was then on us to try to create something in the second half. We got the ball in the box a number of times and created one or two chances but nothing really clean.
“When you look at Brazil’s attacking play in the final third of the pitch and when you look at ours, there’s really no comparison.”
“We definitely didn’t play as well as we can play.
“But when you put yourself on the back foot, like we did against Morocco, you’re then relying on a bit of grit and determination to get back into the game against a really top opponent. And we didn’t manage to do that.”
Scotland will pray for a miracle in the coming days while half-hoping it doesn’t come. A game against Mexico or Germany offers little beyond the likelihood of another dispiriting result and another public battering. While there is still a scenario where Scotland could progress, a flight home would feel like a more fitting end to the tournament than a game in the last 32.
“It’s always difficult to speak about possible opponents when I’m not even sure we’re going to be here for the next round,” Clarke said.
“So it’s difficult. Mexico are a strong team, especially at home, so that would be another tough game.
“I’m disappointed for them because we didn’t reach the levels that they can reach.
“Anyone who has watched this team over the last few years knows that we didn’t reach the levels that we can reach.”
If Scotland made an impact on the World Cup finals, it came off the pitch where supporters illuminated the cities of Boston and Miami.
While the Tartan Army have been better ambassadors for Scottish football than the team, Clarke is entitled to make the point that the efforts of both him and his players are the reason they returned to the World Cup finals in the first place.
“The fans are fantastic, they’ve been absolutely brilliant,” he added.
“But don’t forget that this group of players brought these fans to America, this group of players qualified. That's why the Scottish journalists are here.
“Otherwise, we’d always be sitting on the sofa, watching the World Cup without Scotland.”
Contingent on results elsewhere there’s a growing suspicion now that, come the weekend, normal service will resume.
