How Scotland faltered against Brazil in biggest World Cup match for 28 years | OneFootball

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Scotland’s 3-0 defeat to Group C winners Brazil at the Miami Stadium has left their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.

A first half brace from Vinícius Júnior and a second half strike from Matheus Cunha ensures the Tartan Army now face an anxious wait to find out if they’ll make the round of 32, having dropped from second to sixth on the list of best third placed teams.

The worst part for Steve Clarke’s side is that Brazil, for large parts of the game, were not outstanding. This really shouldn’t have been a 3-0 loss, but in a tale as old as time Scottish mistakes conspired to dump them out of a major tournament, again.

FromTheSpot examines where Scotland went so wrong and what, if anything, they did well, on a damaging night that could see the wait for a first ever appearance in the knockout stages go on.

Scotland’s resistance crumbles with sloppy errors

Scotland set up to stifle Brazil with a 4-4-1-1, hoping to mark Vinícius and his attacking teammates out of the game with two banks of four in both defence and midfield.

And at times, this approach worked well, with Carlo Ancelotti’s charges struggling to create much in the way of clear cut chances.

But unfortunately for the Tartan Army, silly individual errors let them down.

Scott McKenna was the main offender, with his heavy touch allowing Bournemouth’s Rayan to nick the ball and square for Vini Jr to pick his spot.

Jack Hendry, meanwhile, was fortunate to see a second from Vini Jr denied by VAR for a soft foul, after his dithering allowed the Real Madrid superstar to steal in and net a simple strike past the helpless Angus Gunn. Unlike his WWE namesake Joe few will be believing in him after that error.

And the less said about the defending for Brazil’s – and Vini Jr’s – actual second, the better, with the Scots repeatedly failing to clear the ball in the final third before the ex-Flamengo forward was allowed a free header in the box.

Following that sucker punch the wall that Clarke built quickly came tumbling down. The Scots defence wilted, Brazil began to find gaps more frequently, and by the time Matheus Cunha netted his nation’s third it felt like an inevitability.

Poor attacking display fails to see Scots through

Going forward, meanwhile, Scotland used a 2-4-3-1 with Ben Patterson and Andy Robertson overlapping wide men Ben Gannon-Doak and John McGinn on the left and right side respectively.

Used to full effect, this approach could’ve been devastating, stretching a Brazil midfield devoid of pace, overwhelming the Seleção defence in wide areas and creating space for Scott McTominay and Lawrence Shankland to run into.

But unfortunately for Clarke’s men, they failed to realise the full potential of such a system, as they managed just 1.13 XG compared to Brazil’s 4.46 – and much of that in the final 20 minutes.

This may have been partly due to the heat, with the temperature inside the Miami Stadium peaking at 30 degrees Celsius and no roof available to soften the blow.

But regardless, Clarke set his side out to win after an agonizing defeat against Morocco, and they couldn’t even come close to doing so.

Yes, there was improvement in the second half, with Scotland moving the ball around more freely and McTominay and Lewis Ferguson both having chances.

But against what is regarded as one of the weakest Brazil sides in history there was a real opportunity to do damage with this system, and it is one that wasn’t taken.

Clarke’s tactics called into question after dire first half

Much of this was down to the approach Clarke took, particularly in the first half. Like so many managers in recent times the ex-Kilmarnock boss insisted on playing out from the back, akin to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, instead of utilising the natural strengths of his team.

With big, burly players such as McTominay and Shankland in the side, as well as elite crossers like Andy Robertson and several bruising cente-backs this is a squad which seems well suited for direct football.

And Clarke, to his credit, appeared to realise this in the second period. Crosses out wide from the fullbacks became a more regular feature, and McTominay began getting increasingly involved when he was allowed to maraud into the box to meet them.

But the fact remains the 62-year-old adapted too late. Had the change been made after McKenna’s error, Scotland would’ve likely carried the attacking threat they possessed in the latter stages whilst also looking more composed defensively.

They could’ve stood a real chance of getting a point, maybe even three from this fixture.

But they didn’t, and with Clarke’s men now sitting sixth out of eight third placed teams his failure to act sooner may have just cost his nation their World Cup hopes.

Brazil shine in strong second period

Brazil were somewhat lucky to go into half time 2-0 up, having found themselves in such a position more as a result of Scottish self-sabotage than their own creative efforts.

But come the second, they began to find their stride and look like the Brazil of old.

Nowhere was this more evident than in Seleção’s third, where quick, incisive interplay in the final third ended with Bruno Guimaraes teeing up Cunha after bullying the hapless Kenny McLean off the ball.

OK, so it wasn’t quite Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Romario, but it was a sizeable step in the right direction.

For Scotland, however, this was a gigantic step backwards.

A campaign which started so full of promise and optimism after that 1-0 win against Haiti has gone up in smoke, as they failed to get the solitary point they needed to progress despite showing signs of potential.

Although the Tartan Army are not technically out yet, they can count themselves very, very fortunate if they squeak through after failing to showcase what they are truly capable of on the world’s biggest stage.

Having waited an arduous 28 years make their return to the World Cup, it’s now possible that Scotland will fall at the first hurdle for the ninth successive time at a major tournament.

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