Tartan Army’s sobering regret as Scotland’s one-point plan almost pays off | OneFootball

The Tartan Army drank much of Boston dry this week, and had the Scotland players not started against Morocco like they were still shaking off a heavy one, they might be toasting history tonight.

Instead, a 1-0 defeat leaves Scotland with one more opportunity to claim the point they need to reach for the World Cup knockout round for the first time.

Brazil will be no easier to stop than Morocco, but Scotland were not far from doing just that. If only they hadn’t given the fifth-ranked team in the world a head start.

Scotland were set up to frustrate and subdue Morocco, with Steve Clarke making three changes to make his side harder to beat. Which makes their early sloppiness so infuriating.

Judging from the lack of connection between Clarke’s three centre-backs, his players must still have been adjusting to their new shape when Ismael Saibari made a simple run off Grant Hanley behind Jack Hendry, the Al-Ettifaq defender pushing out on to no one in particular.

Hanley made the second wretched decision of the phase: stepping up with his hand up in a foolhardy attempt to play Saibari offside. He was nowhere near.

The run was perfect but the finish even better. The control too – a deft touch to guide the ball inside to get the striker’s hips lined up with the far post shouldn’t be omitted from the acclaim for one of the goals of the tournament so far, the Trionda tangled in the top corner adding a satisfying flourish.

After dinking Alisson Becker in Morocco’s opener, Saibari’s thunderb*stard showcased the range of finishing range that has prompted Bayern Munich to pay PSV almost £50million for the centre-forward.

From Scotland’s perspective, however, they must now hope that allowing Saibari to wander in so easily so early does not become their greatest regret of a splendid summer so far.

Perhaps it rocked Clarke’s men but it is hard to tell since they were similarly as nervy through the win over Haiti. It took them 44 minutes, not even to settle, just to have something that resembled an effort on Morocco’s goal.

But Morocco never capitalised on their dominance. Similarly to how they eased off against Brazil last week, they were much, much the better team in the opening half hour before gradually retreating, especially through the second half.

So as poor as Scotland were before the break, Clarke’s plan worked for all but the first 70 seconds.

Even while trailing, they stayed in the game to build up a head of steam to claim something in the later stages. Clarke made his attacking changes, almost to the minute he would have had in mind pre-game, and Scotland finished on the front foot.

Though they never looked convinced they could score. John McGinn and Scott McTominay had two penalty shouts ignored, both happier to take the contact and test the officials rather than getting into a position to bother Bono in the Morocco goal.

McTominay was only able to assert any influence in the closing stages when Clarke removed his shackles. If Scotland are to get anything from Brazil, they will surely have to score a goal, which means finding a way to free up McTominay to burst forward without leaving gaping holes behind.

Clarke also must weigh up if the defensive solidity achieved by keeping Ben Gannon-Doak in reserve is worth the woeful lack of penetration without the Bournemouth winger. Almost certainly, Clarke will conclude it is.

In which case, Scotland’s plan for Brazil won’t deviate much from this one that could, should have achieved it’s aim of progression before heading down the East Coast to Miami on Wednesday.