a 31 per cent chance of finishing second in the section<\/a>. It\u2019s the nature of FIFA\u2019s 48-team World Cup: edge your opening match and you\u2019re sitting pretty.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-13-at-23.05.42.png\")
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bad idea to count chickens because Scotland have never, in eight previous appearances, got beyond the group stage of a World Cup. To use 1978 as an example, they beat the Netherlands 3-2 and went out on goal difference. Had they maintained a 3-1 lead with 19 minutes to go, they\u2019d have gone through. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is a bit of a Scottish trait.<\/p>\n
At both of their last two major tournament appearances \u2014 Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 \u2014 Scotland failed to win a single match. Prior to tonight, they had only won four World Cup fixtures full stop. So while repeated performances like this won\u2019t take them far, the scoreline alone might be enough to clear the first hurdle.<\/p>\n
Phil Hay<\/p>\n
Did Gannon-Doak just go global?<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the joys of a World Cup \u2014 one of the genuine joys \u2014 is being introduced to players you knew little or nothing about. There\u2019s no better stage on which to break out than a tournament watched by billions of people.<\/p>\n
Ben Gannon-Doak, the Scotland winger, isn\u2019t exactly off the radar. He was well thought of as he rose through Liverpool\u2019s academy, and he\u2019s had a touch of Premier League exposure at Bournemouth. But it\u2019s unlikely that large pockets of South America, North America, Asia or Africa have seen him before, and his 90 minutes against Haiti suggest he\u2019ll exit these finals with his reputation enhanced.<\/p>\n
Tonight, the 20-year-old also demonstrated the high value of members of the Scotland squad who come up with big moments; or to put that another way, players who can compensate individually for a collective display as patchy as this one against Haiti.<\/p>\n
An early shot from Scott Tominay (big player alert) off the post was down to Gannon-Doak making something of an aimless hoof forward. And the only goal from John McGinn came from his driving run into space out wide. Gannon-Doak\u2019s little trick to mug the wonderfully-named Martin Experience just after half-time \u2014 flicking the ball around Experience on the touchline \u2014 had his fiddly spirit shining through.<\/p>\n
For U.S. viewers on Fox, for example, he lit up a fairly low-quality contest, and his name should register next time. That\u2019s partly what a World Cup is about: showcasing those who deserve a wider audience. Fingers crossed the injury which forced him off towards the end isn\u2019t much to worry about.<\/p>\n
Phil Hay<\/p>\n
Did 4-4-2 work?<\/b><\/p>\n
No, is the short answer. This was a pivotal victory but the performance was disjointed.<\/p>\n
Scotland really struggled to control Haiti\u2019s possession and even after the break did not seem to have their distances right.<\/p>\n
Lewis Ferguson, trusted with plugging the centre of the pitch, was acting as a third centre-back at times he was so deep. It meant the midfield was almost on top of the defence, making it hard for Scotland to get pressure on the ball.<\/p>\n
Aaron Hickey had to do much more 1 v 1 defending than he would have liked and struggled to deal with Ruben Providence in the first-half.<\/p>\n
The logic behind the shape made sense as it got an extra goal threat on the pitch and enabled Gannon-Doak, Scotland\u2019s only real direct threat, to get in the team. McGinn tucking in centrally also created some nice combinations with Andy Robertson able to exploit the space down the left flank.<\/p>\n
But these out of possession issues have persisted since Steve Clarke made the decision to move on from the back-three system after a poor showing at Euro 2024.<\/p>\n
The old shape, while having its limitations in possession, allowed Scotland to be aggressive in pressing the opposition. They would often go man-for-man and it felt like the players found it simpler to attach onto a man. It simplified the game plan.<\/p>\n
There are few occasions, despite topping the qualifying group to make it here, while playing with a back four in which Scotland have looked as solid as a defensive unit.<\/p>\n
Scotland looked caught in between against Haiti and it begs the question as to whether Clarke, perhaps already planning to use that shape in the next two tougher games, will now opt to revert to the wing-back system that served Scotland well for several years.<\/p>\n
He was open to the suggestion in March\u2019s internationals and said the players enjoyed it. It would surely provide a more solid base to build a performance on.<\/p>\n
Jordan Campbell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland claimed their first World Cup win in 36 years thanks to John McGinn\u2019s deflected strike that took…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":866625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[18496,148962,8884,51,50,220,6313,7756,221,52],"class_list":["post-866624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-aston-villa","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-haiti","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-scotland","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-soccer","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116748288729212551","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}