Scotland Men's Football Team

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Lewis Ferguson admits Scotland let themselves down with their World Cup performances and says they must improve moving forwards.

Steve Clarke's side beat Haiti in their Group C opener, but have suffered successive defeats by Morocco and Brazil.

Their only hope of progression to the last 32 is as one of the eight best third-placed sides, but the chances of that happening have dropped to 5.26%.

"I think we just let ourselves down a bit," the Bologna man said.

"I think we've showed in spells that we can be a really good team but we've never quite just had that proper 90-minute performance, which we're going to need if we do get through the knockout stages.

"There are no second chances there. You need to be on it for the full 90 minutes, and any sort of slip of any mistake can cost you, especially at this level.

"We need to improve. We know we need to improve in a lot of aspects.

"We'll try and put those things right over the next few days, and if we do get the chance to get into the next round, then we need to be better if we're going to progress again."

Image source, PA Media

Craig Burley does not believe Scotland "deserve" to progress at the World Cup after slumping to defeat by Morocco and Brazil.

Steve Clarke's side had opened Group C with a 1-0 victory over Haiti but then lost by the same score to Morocco. And Brazil won the section with a 3-0 victory against the Scots.

Scotland could yet progress to the round of 32 as one of the eight best third-placed teams - but only if results in other groups go their way.

Prior to John McGinn's winner against Haiti on 14 June, Burley was the last Scotland player to score at a men's World Cup finals, against Norway in 1998.

And the former Celtic, Chelsea and Derby player said on ESPN in the United States: "I'm sorry, I know this is the way it works with 48 teams, but we are just rewarding complete mediocrity here, and they don't really deserve to go through, if we're being honest. And I don't think they will, barring getting lucky.

"In fact, if they do go through, it's just going to continue the embarrassment of looking like what Scotland are. And it's kind of second rate, isn't it?

"They just don't have the players. They've got a couple. But they just don't have the players of yesteryear and I'm not talking about the team I played in, although it had some very good players."

No Scotland team has ever progressed beyond the first round at a major tournament but Burley says previous Scotland teams "could pass the ball for fun, with anybody" while the current side "just don't have that".

"If they go through, fine, but there should be no celebration if this is the first ever Scotland team to qualify through the group stage."

We asked for your views on the 3-0 defeat by Brazil that leaves Scotland's World Cup last-32 hopes hanging by a thread.

Here's what some of you said:

Barry: Abject failure on the international stage for a second tournament in a row, Steve Clarke has taken these players as far as he can and it would be better for all involved if he did the right thing and tore up that new contract. Scotland need fresh ideas.

Derek: Absolute shambles but nothing new there. The central defenders we have match our forwards. Both are a laughing stock. Four more years of Clarke says it all.

Dougie: It's not the manager's fault. No manager makes the kind of mistakes on the pitch that Scotland made, but is he the guy to take it forward? There is such a thing as misplaced loyalty, and it's clear these players can't do tournament football successfully. If it was a club, there would be an almost total clearout.

Andy: I almost hope we don't qualify via the back door because a) this team doesn't deserve to the be the first Scotland team to do it based on results, and b) what fresh hell might await us in the next round?

Jeremy: The squad lacked a recognised striker. Clarke's omission of Oli McBurnie was a huge error.

Jim: Very predictable, the manager simply does not have the quality of squad to compete at this level. Playing out from the back has never suited the Scottish style of play and we showed that again against Brazil to our cost. We talk ourselves up about football and are capable (like against Denmark) of the occasional good result, but we fall far short of fielding a European or World Cup competitive team. Time to reassess the game in Scotland overall.

William: Once again Scotland have been poor at a major tournament. They have been poor in all three games, giving away poor goals and not looking like scoring. The team don't take responsibility and constantly take the easy option. Our players are simply not good enough. We don't deserve to go through.

Robbie: Now a waiting game. Did they let themselves down, yes. Was I surprised, no. It's what Scotland do, we are world class at it. Perhaps it's time to reflect again on the abilities, or lack of them within the squad.

Stephen: The goals we conceded were shocking, it was an uphill battle. Second half was much better, we created some great chances. Pity nobody had their scoring boots on. Unless a very unlikely miracle happens, we're going home.

George: We do not have one top-class defender, our so-called attacking play looks dated and the manager is being constantly exposed in major tournaments. Apart from these considerations everything else is fine.

Former Scotland striker Kevin Gallacher, who was part of the 1998 World Cup squad, has admitted his surprise at the manner of last night's 3-0 defeat to Brazil in Miami.

"I'm a little bit down. I wasn't expecting that performance last night - it was hugely disappointing," Gallacher told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast.

"It's not Brazil who go and make us look bad, it was ourselves and that was the disappointing thing. We have given them freebies.

"There's something about Brazil that just keep sucking the energy out of Scotland in these matches and taking the points.

"You can't do that after six minutes [get caught while trying to play the ball out from the back]. You would have thought they would have learned their lesson from the Morocco game and maybe for the first 10 minutes just keep playing it longer, to keep Brazil back.

"But it never went that way. They used a different tactic and unfortunately that tactic failed.

"Scotland are not a team of individuals, we are a collective, and that for me was the thing that was missing. Collectively we weren't together."

Image source, Getty Images

• Scotland now are the only opponent Brazil have faced 11 or more times in all competitions without losing (W9 D2), surpassing Austria (W7 D3). Brazil are also the only side Scotland faced five or more times without ever winning.

• With Scott McTominay's header in the 49th minute, Scotland ended a drought of 200 minutes without a shot on target in the 2026 World Cup, since John McGinn's goal against Haiti on matchday one.

• Brazil have topped their group in each World Cup since 1982, qualifying second most recently in 1978 behind Austria.

• Vinicius Junior has become the fifth Brazilian player to score in all three group matches of a single World Cup, following Jairzinho (1970), Romario (1994), and both Ronaldo and Rivaldo (2002); Brazil went on to win the trophy on each of those three previous occasions.

• Scotland completed 400 or more passes in a World Cup match for the second time on record since 1966 (448), with the other occurrence also being against Brazil (440 in 1982). Lewis Ferguson completed 87 of 92 passes, the most by any Scotland player in a World Cup on record.

• Neymar has become just the fourth player to represent Brazil at four different FIFA World Cups, joining Djalma Santos, Cafu, and Pele. He came on as a substitute for the first time in the tournament (14th appearance), 981 days after he had last played for Brazil (October 2023).