It's pitch black and we’re traipsing through a bit of spare ground being used as a Miami Stadium car park, writes Scott McDermott from the USA. We’ve already walked for more than a mile, desperately trying to find our Uber driver. The humidity is stifling. The sweat is dripping off us. Oh, and Scotland have just been stuffed 3-0 by Brazil at the World Cup.
It hasn’t been a great night. Now exhausted, and probably heading out of the tournament, we just want to be in a taxi on our way back to the hotel. To somehow try and process exactly what’s just happened.
Finally, Patrick finds us. He’s actually ditched his motor to come and get us. We’re walking to his car, passing all the classic American Ubers, mostly big Chevrolet Suburbans. At this point, we can’t wait to get in and feel that ice-cool air-conditioning that - on our travels - has been a God-send on this trip. Patrick finally gets to his but it’s not a Chevrolet. Instead, it looks like a clapped-out Nissan Cherry. There are only three of us but it’s a tight squeeze just getting in. And the air-con is provided by rolling all the windows down. It just put the tin-lid on a miserable night in Miami.
Patrick was Jamaican but, incredibly, an avid fan of Aberdeen and Scottish football. Seriously, you couldn’t make this up. His favourite player of all time is Joe Jordan. All I want to do is sit silently in the back and contemplate Scotland’s imminent early exit from the World Cup. But Patrick wants to have a conversation about how we fix our game’s ills.
A Taxi Driver’s Diagnosis
“You know what the problem is with Scotland? Too many foreign players coming into the league has meant not enough young ones getting a chance.” He’s right, of course. But how has it come to this? That a random Jamaican taxi driver from Miami, Florida can point out where we’re going wrong in Scottish football - but the people running our game can’t. It just summed it all up.
That’s the bigger picture surrounding our dismal Group C campaign in America. In terms of the here and now? There’s plenty for the squad to ponder – particularly after the bombshell news that Clarke has stepped down as boss.
Who’s to Blame?
This isn’t just the manager’s fault. And it’s too simple to say the players are solely to blame. Not reaching the knockout stage is a joint failure. Clarke got some decisions wrong in the States against Haiti, Morocco and Brazil. And too many of our players didn’t produce their best when they really had to. That’s it in a nutshell.
There’s no denying that it was one of the toughest groups in the tournament. But there can be no excuses. With so many teams qualifying for the last 32, you almost had to throw a double-six NOT to get through. Yet, we somehow managed it, while the likes of South Africa, Norway and Cape Verde progressed.
Clarke’s Contract and Comments
Clarke hasn’t covered himself in glory and serious questions will now be asked about why the SFA handed him a new, four-year contract before the World Cup. He picked the wrong team for the 1-0 defeat to Morocco which proved costly. But more than that, Clarke said he was going to enjoy this tournament. Instead, he’s been far too easily irked and hasn’t looked comfortable in this environment with the whole world watching.
At his Brazil post-match press conference, he bit back at someone, saying: ‘There are Scottish journalists in here who wouldn’t be at a World Cup without us’. Really? For a start, Scottish football writers have been attending World Cups for years, despite our national team’s long absence from the tournament. But also, what message does that Clarke comment send out? It’s pretty clear he feels that everyone should just be grateful to be there. Irrespective of what happens on the pitch. And that might just feed into why Scotland hasn’t delivered in the US.
Missed Opportunities
Before the first game against Haiti, the narrative was that we just HAD to win. By hook or by crook, to get the monkey off this squad’s back. And of course, they DID have to win. But ultimately, that attitude led to a tense, nervous performance - then an acceptance that 1-0 was enough. But it wasn’t. With Morocco and Brazil to come - two of the world’s top six sides - Scotland had to score goals against the Haitians to give themselves a serious chance of qualifying.
Against the Africans, Clarke’s line-up suggested a sit-in job. If we lose, make sure it’s not by much. But is that really how this World Cup was meant to be for us? We were two games into the biggest tournament of our lives and hadn’t taken the handbrake off yet. That left us needing a point from Brazil. Easy eh? Only the most decorated World Cup nation, with a squad full of superstars.
In Miami, Clarke put out a more open side, allowing them to breathe and play a bit more. Only for daft, defensive errors to get brutally punished by the likes of Vinicius Jr. By the end of it, we looked battered, bruised and bedraggled. Beaten. And that wasn’t how it was supposed to be. The players promised themselves and everyone else it would be different from Euro 2024 when they left Germany full of regrets. But you can only assume they’re feeling even more remorseful and apologetic this time around.
What Now for Scotland?
This group will never be accused of lacking effort or endeavour. But for three tournaments now, they haven’t done themselves justice. They haven’t reproduced their club form for Scotland. They simply haven’t been able to come up with moments - on this stage - for the Tartan Army to remember.
When Clarke took over, we were in a state of despair. It was difficult to see us EVER getting back to a Euros or a World Cup. So the job he’s done is nothing short of remarkable, in that sense. But we’re no longer that nation who can’t qualify. Thanks to him, we’re back, regularly going to major finals. But do we just settle for that now? As if reaching that point should satisfy us and - as the manager said - we should all just be grateful.
Sometimes in football, you need a certain type of manager to build what it takes to get you back to where you belong. But then another to excel when you actually get there. And that's now the case with Clarke and Scotland.
