Bolivia 0-4 Scotland: Scots fire four past Bolivia in final match before World Cup return | OneFootball

Scotland smashed Bolivia in New Jersey, delivering a statement performance ahead of their first World Cup appearance in 28 years.

Lawrence Shankland opened the scoring early on before Scott McTominay added a second goal for the Scots midway through the first half.

Che Adams added a couple of goals before the break as Scotland found themselves four goals to the good at the break.

Those were the only four goals in the game, as Scotland strolled to a comfortable victory against the South American side, as Steve Clarke’s side gear up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

As it happened

Scotland started the game strongly and found their opener within five minutes. Ryan Christie and Andy Robertson combined brilliantly down the left, with the former clipping a cross up to the back post which found Lawrence Shankland who guided a header into the top corner to give the Tartan Army an early lead in New Jersey.

The Scots continued to look the more likely side to score as the half continued and were rewarded with that second goal after 22 minutes. Again it came from patient play, before Shankland laid the ball off to Scott McTominay who fired home from the edge of the box, doubling his side’s lead, and bringing his Scotland goal tally up to 15 in the process.

The goals just would not stop flowing for Scotland with Che Adams tapping home from close range after a low cross from Ben Gannon-Doak with only half an hour played.

The talented young winger very nearly added a fourth for his side 10 minutes later but was denied by Guillermo Viscarra in the Bolivia net. The resulting corner was flicked on at the near post onto the head of Robertson, but the captain mistimed his header from close range and couldn’t hit the target.

It wasn’t long before they did find that fourth first half goal with Che Adams scoring his second of the night. Gannon-Doak did incredibly to carry the ball forward through the Bolivia midfield before finding Adams to his left. He brought the ball onto his right before seeing his first effort blocked, but blasted the rebound into the corner as the Scots found themselves in dreamland at the break.

Scotland continued to press forward in search of more goals in the second half, with Shankland, Adams and substitute George Hirst missing big opportunities to add to that tally.

Ultimately, the game was decided in the first half as Scotland blew Bolivia away with four first-half goals, in what turned out to be the perfect preparation before that World Cup opener against Haiti next weekend.

Scotland Analysis: The perfect night for Steve Clarke

Steve Clarke will be a very happy man tonight after that Scotland display. As will the Tartan Army, whether watching at home or in the US. Of course, the result is always important, but a strong argument could be made that for Scotland, a high quality performance like the one tonight was the ideal preparation for the World Cup.

Looking back at the recent results and performances since that night against Denmark where they secured qualification, there has been a little drop-off in the standards. Even last Saturday against Curaçao, while the end result was good, large parts of the performance, particularly in the first half before the visitors were reduced to ten-men, were poor.

That left many Scotland fans concerned about how their nation would perform in their first World Cup tournament in 28 years. The recent dip, plus the record in the last couple of major tournaments, the Tartan Army maybe right to be nervous.

But then comes that performance and result tonight, as Scotland blow away a Bolivia side who beat Brazil last year, hitting four first half goals past them, and passing up a few opportunities for more. It was a game which should have lifted the spirits and the confidence for both the Scotland players and the fanbase.

Ultimately, the most important aspect of the game wasn’t the level of performance nor the result. It was the fact that everyone in Scotland colours came through the game unscathed, with no new injury concerns. And that will be the biggest boost that Steve Clarke could have received ahead of next weekend’s World Cup opener against Haiti.