Scotland v Japan LIVE: Clarke responds to ‘disappointing’ boos after pre-World Cup friendly | OneFootball

Scotland fell to a 1-0 defeat against Japan at Hampden (Steve Welsh/PA Wire)

Scotland manager Steve Clarke revealed his surprise and “disappointment” after hearing some boos from the Tartan Army following the 1-0 defeat by Japan at Hampden, in what was their first friendly match since qualifying for this summer’s tournament.

A clever late finish from Japan’s Junya Ito handed Scotland a pre-World Cup reality check. But losing to a Japan side ranked 19th in the world was no disgrace even if Scotland lacked attacking inspiration and the visitors were deserved winners on the night.

Asked if he was surprised by the reaction of the fans, Clarke said: "Yes and it disappointed me to be honest. It's just the modern way, it seems to be now if you lose a game you get booed. You have just got to deal with it. It disappoints me."

The Tartan Army will next travel to Liverpool and Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium for an unusual ‘home’ friendly against the Ivory Coast on Tuesday. It will be their last friendly before Clarke names his World Cup squad at the end of the club season.

Steve Clarke ‘disappointed’ as some Scotland fans boo team after Japan defeat

Japan got the breakthrough in the 84th minute through substitute Junya Ito and the home fans revealed their frustration at the end.

Asked if he was surprised by the reaction of the fans, Clarke said:

"Yes and it disappointed me to be honest. It's just the modern way, it seems to be now if you lose a game you get booed. You have just got to deal with it. It disappoints me."

Steve Clarke ‘disappointed’ as some Scotland fans boo team after Japan defeat

Scotland 0-1 Japan: Junya Ito’s late finish earned the visitors a deserved victory and the sections of the Tartan Army let their feelings known

Ronnie Esplin29 March 2026 12:00

Steve Clarke expects 'six or seven changes' for Ivory Coast on Tuesday

“We’ll recover now and get the next team ready to go,” Clarke told BBC Scotland.

“I anticipate six or seven changes and there’s some personnel I want to see on the pitch. So it’ll be a different team on Tuesday from the one that played today.”

Che Adams, John Souttar and Grant Hanley didn’t feature, so they may be involved.

Crichton says performance a 'little bit flat'

“Little bit flat and and probably disappointed with the performance and result because I thought there was more there for if I'm being honest,” says Leanne Crichton on BBC Scotland.

“I felt we could have really gone and got after the game. But it's trial and error in these types of games, that's why you take them on at this stage in the season. You want to know where you are heading into the tournament.

“If anything they've maybe given Japan too much respect coming into the game. I thought they flattered to deceive at points, but you could see the quality when Japan decided they wanted to go at us.

“You can't have Scotland 4, Denmark 2 every night, but it gives us a really good gauge of where we are and where we think we can get to,” she added.

Angus Gunn will feel he 'could do better' on Japan's late winner

“He's trying to anticipate it's going to be slid across him, and he's almost down before the ball reaches him,” the Dundee boss Neil McCann told the BBC. “I think in hindsight when he looks at it, I think he should save it.

“But they're good, they're incisive. This is a good side we’re playing tonight. They're beating Brazil. They're serial qualifiers for World Cups. This is a good test.

“I think the thing is that we want to see us being probably a wee bit more aggressive in our forward play, because generally we can be quite structured.

“That's a top side we played, a lot of positives, but I think we want to see he's been a wee bit braver in possession.”

(PA)