Scotland’s Billy Gilmour breaks silence after World Cup injury heartbreak | OneFootball

Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour revealed that having his World Cup dream dashed by injury has been “a tough one to get my head around”.

The 24-year-old was forced to withdraw from the squad the night before Steve Clarke’s players flew to America on Sunday for the global showpiece after sustaining a knee problem in the first half of Saturday’s warm-up match against Curacao at Hampden.

Gilmour’s place was taken by 19-year-old Manchester United midfielder Tyler Fletcher, who made his debut as a half-time replacement in the 4-1 victory against the World Cup debutants.

“I haven’t got the words to describe how I’m feeling right now,” the Napoli player posted on Instagram on Tuesday.

“Being so close to a childhood dream of mine, to play in a World Cup and now it has been taken away from me with an injury. It’s been a tough one to get my head around.

Billy Gilmour was forced to pull out of Scotland's World Cup campaign on the eve before they travelled to the US (PA)

“Your support and kind messages over the last few days mean the world to me and haven’t gone unnoticed, so thank you so much.

“I’ll see you all back doing what I love again soon but until then, let’s get behind the team and cheer them on. Come on Scotland!”

Scotland arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for their pre-tournament camp on Sunday and had their first Stateside training session on Monday.

They will face Bolivia in a friendly in New Jersey on Saturday before travelling to their World Cup base at Charlotte.

Haiti, Morocco and Brazil are their Group C opponents at the tournament having qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.