CURVEBALL
In the four matches they’ve sat through since their unconvincing Geopolitics World Cup win over Haiti, it must rankle among diehard conscripts of the Tartan Army that the only sporting moment they’ve been able to celebrate with genuine wild abandon remains a Wyatt Langford home run biffed out of the stadium for the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park. Away from the diamond, fairly meek surrenders by Scotland to Morocco and Brazil led to Steve Clarke’s resignation, which in turn prompted Sébastien Pocognoli to surf in on a wave of cautious fan suspicion. Following an extremely promising second-half display in his first game against Slovenia – one that obviously featured no goals, a couple of missed sitters and plenty of attacking verve from his side – the Belgian had plenty of reasons to be cheerful going into his first home game as Scotland head coach. After all, as a newbie to the gig he probably didn’t know any better.
