By
Tom English (24th June, 2026) 3;00PM
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer
In the beginning, it was Pele and Jairzinho, Gerson and
Amarildo, the Brazilian boys of 1966, still champions of the world, if only for
another month.
These were the icons that Scotland faced the first time
they played the Selecao, 60 years and 10 games ago. Stevie Chalmers, a Lisbon
Lion in waiting, opened the scoring after a minute. It ended 1-1.
What Steve Clarke would give for more of the same on
Wednesday in the blistering humidity of Miami. Scotland's game of the century
is nigh.
There's been pain against Brazil. Too much.
The forlorn look on Tom Boyd's face in the 73rd minute in
Paris in 1998 as the ball ricochets off his right arm and into the back of his
own net; the goal that settled it - 2-1 to the South Americans.
The head-in-hands shock of the great Billy Bremner when
he fails to score from a few yards out just after the hour mark in Frankfurt in
1974 - 0-0, undefeated Scotland going home on goal difference.
The goal difference spectre looms large again now, more
than a half a century later. Scotland know they don't need to win and don't
even necessarily need to draw to get themselves into the knockout round for the
first time in their history.
Getting a point, or three, is the object of the exercise
and their total focus, but a battling 1-0 loss, a rough 2-0 defeat, or even a
desperate chasing and more goals conceded might still see them advance.
Andy Robertson said on Tuesday that he didn't give a damn
about permutations, but you can bet he knows all the detail that he needs to
know. His obsession, naturally, is on getting the kind of result that powers
Scotland into the next round.
You don't get to his level if you're looking on defeat as
some kind of victory, which, of course, it could be in the grand scheme of
things. Hence, the barmy nature of the world they're living in right now.
It's been 15 years since Scotland played Brazil and 28
years since they played them in a World Cup. If you're very, very lucky you get
to face those yellow jerseys once in your career, so best make the most of it.
Scotland cannot be gung-ho, but they have to be more
threatening than they have been in their two games in America and in the six
that went before in their last two European Championship campaigns.
Against Morocco, they put in a committed second-half
performance, they applied pressure and had moments.
Against a team clearly good enough to counter on them
with potentially devastating consequences, Scotland played with as much risk as
was sensible but still didn't get shot on target. They've only had two in two
games so far.
Nobody in the Scotland camp is hiding from that. One by
one, coaches and players have spoken about it this week - this need to fire
shots, metaphorically and literally.
Clarke has to find a hybrid game plan that keeps things
tight against a dangerous, but not imperious, Brazil while at the same time
asking questions at the other end, unsettling Brazil, shaking them out of a
rhythm and picking away at their self-belief.
Neymar and Vinicius Junior are superstars of world
football
Facing Brazil at a World Cup? Football doesn't get any
sexier than this. In six decades, Scotland have faced so many of their
immortals - Tostao and Rivellino, Brito and Clodoaldo, Zico and Falcao, Romario
and Careca, Roberto Carlos and Cafu, Rivaldo and Ronaldo.
They've never beaten them, not in four meetings at World
Cups and not in six friendlies - that draw in 1966 and another in 1974 are
Scotland's lot.
A nation that owes its football existence to the son -
Charles Miller, the founding father of Brazilian football - of a man from
Fairlie in North Ayrshire is targeting a sixth World Cup.
Vinicius Junior is the one they look to now, the heir
apparent, the winger most likely to propel them forward. And Brazil are in need
of some propelling.
It's been 24 years since they last won this tournament, a
veritable eternity for them. In the years since - four losing quarter-finals
and a losing semi-final against Germany; 7-1, the horror of Belo Horizonte.
This vintage has not shown itself to be genuine
contenders. Not yet. Their qualification was sloppy; played 18, won eight, drew
four, lost six.
Of their victories, they took until the 89th minute to
beat Chile, the 90th minute to beat Peru and the 99th minute to beat Colombia.
They lost to Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina (twice).
This game could see the return of Neymar after an absence
of two-and-a-half years. The prodigal will play a part, it seems.
Even a glancing look at the Brazilian media reveals their
fascination with him, the microscopic detail about his calf injury, the almost
hourly updates on what he's been doing in training and what role he might be
deployed in - a false nine seems to be the consensus, maybe off the bench if
things are going Brazil's way.
'I want him to have the best night of his life' - Clarke
Clarke has his own selection issues. The news of Aaron
Hickey is not good, so who plays right-back against the speed and
blood-curdling trickery of Vini Jr?
Nathan Patterson, Anthony Ralston, or does Clarke go
rogue and ask Kieran Tierney to do one of the least enviable jobs in football?
There's sense in that. Tierney has vast experience. This is a day for nous.
Who does Clarke play up front - and is there any prospect
that whoever it is might have more than crumbs to feed on?
Che Adams runs hard, but he's unconvincing. Lyndon Dykes
is a battering ram, but Gabriel and Marquinhos have seen his sort before in
their storied careers. Lawrence Shankland, Ross Stewart and George Hirst are
the other contenders.
There is logic in putting Scott McTominay into the role -
a curveball for Brazil - but Steven Naismith, assistant manager, dismissed it
the other day.
McTominay is big and strong, incredibly energetic, a
proper handful and a superb finisher. He has not been at his best in the two
games, not even close to his best, but there's always the threat of him
sparking to life.
It's got to happen now. It's got to happen for John
McGinn, too. It's got to happen for Ben Gannon-Doak, the potential
difference-maker out wide.
He was utilised off the bench against Morocco, Clarke
hoping he'd have a bigger impact when the game was looser and the space was
opening up. Gannon-Doak will start on Wednesday.
Scotland's strength is their endeavour, their hard work,
their passion, but those things only get you so far. There is some technical
ability in there, but not masses of it.
What was said before Haiti and Morocco is still relevant
now - Scotland's big-name players need to step it up. They need to be better,
they need to create and be ruthless.
So many things need to happen for Scotland to get a
point, or three, from this game, but if they do then the joyous fortnight-long
scenes in Boston, a city that adopted the Tartan Army as their own, will feel
like a warm-up act.
It's a racing certainty that the Scotland fans, in their
revelling and in their bevvying, have extra gears in them. The great hope is
that Clarke and his players, in their pursuit of history, have a whole lot more
to show in what could be the game of their lives
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