Scotland are still in mix at this World Cup despite falling to defeat to AFCON champions Morocco at Boston’s stunning Gillette Stadium.
A goal down within two minutes, Steve Clarke’s side looked set for a hiding against a team that scared the life out of Brazil six days earlier in New York.
But Scotland somehow survived the onslaught to come on strong late in the game and slipped to defeat complaining about two second half penalty shouts that were waved away by referee Ilgiz Tantashev.
Having beaten Haiti in their opening game, Scotland will face Brazil next week still in with a chance of reaching the last 32.
Here Daily Mail Sport examines the big issues as Scotland look towards D-Day in Florida.
IT WASN’T ABOUT THE PENALTIES
Scotland will travel south to Miami for their final group game with Brazil convinced they should have had at least two penalties in the second half of an absorbing game in Boston.
Scott McTominay appealed for a late penalty to no avail in Scotland’s defeat by Morocco
On close examination of both incidents, they perhaps should have one. Neil El Aynaoui’s 49th minute challenge on John McGinn looked like a foul and it was a surprise VAR didn’t get involved.
As for the second claim – when Scott McTominay fell under pressure from the same player with eight minutes left – there didn’t seem to be any contact.
Interestingly, former English referee Mark Clattenburg was in touch after the final whistle to say: ‘Neither were penalties. Not every bit of contact is a foul.’
On TV in England the conclusion reached by pundits Roy Keane and Ange Postecoglou was the same. No surprise, perhaps, that former Scotland striker Duncan Ferguson disagreed.
‘McGinn should have had a penalty,’ Ferguson said.
‘There was a touch.’
The truth is that Scotland didn’t lose this game because of the referee, they did so because it took them an hour to wake up and find the confidence to impose themselves on Morocco.
Scotland took too long to get going in Boston and paid the price in a 1-0 loss to the African side
A goal down in only the second minute – and it was a bad one to concede too – Steve Clarke’s team played with an inferiority complex for far too long. Their football was hurried and chaotic and, as they gave up possession cheaply time and time again,
Morocco would have taken the game away from them had they not wasted two further chances in the opening 45 minutes that the AFCON champions dominated.
Scotland grew into the game eventually and pushed hard at the end. But a team won’t get far in a World Cup if they only play for half a game at a time.
BRAZIL SHOULD NOT SCARE SCOTLAND
If there is such a thing as a good defeat then this was it.
Morocco are a good side. They tore holes in Brazil for the first 25 minutes in New York last Saturday and threatened to do the same to Scotland after the same combination – Brahim Diaz to Ismael Saibari – that did for the South Americans combined to give Morocco the lead in the second minute.
At that stage a hammering looked in the offing for Scotland and that would have been a disaster for a side that may have to rely on goal difference to progress as a third-placed team in to the next stage.
Scotland were disorganised and vulnerable for a while but the way that the final half hour of the game played out should encourage them ahead of their game with the five-time winners next week.
Ismael Saibari fired Morocco in front in just the second minute and they held on for victory
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Scotland found legs and found energy in the latter stages of this game and when they did they looked dangerous. Brazil are a strangely vulnerable team and if Scotland believe in themselves they can at least be competitive in the game.
As strange as it sounds, another narrow defeat could yet get the through in a tournament that will see only 16 of the 48 competing teams go home after the group stage.
MCTOMINAY IS THE KEY
Rarely has a change of club and environment done so much for a footballer.
Scott McTominay looked like a jobbing midfielder destined for a career at Stoke City when he played for Manchester United.
Now he looks like a footballer who would be at home in any company.
Somebody asked me recently if he would get in the England squad and I said ‘no’. I think I stand by that – but only just.
Here he was once again Scotland’s best player by a distance. The Napoli player cannot win games of football on his own and there must be a sense of frustration attached to playing for his country. He is simply not surrounded by good enough players.
John McGinn also had a legitimate claim for a penalty turned down by referee Ilgiz Tantashev
As Scotland found some momentum late in the game, it was the 29-year-old who was the beating heart of the forward drive. Playing higher up the field than he had earlier in the game, he bullied Morocco’s retreating rearguard and as well as having that penalty shout he also drove in a shot from the right that was deflected up and in to the side netting.
That was as close as Scotland came and the truth is that Brazil’s cumbersome central midfield – exposed brutally at times against Morocco – will not be looking forward to facing him.
CENTRE FORWARD IS STILL THE PROBLEM
A team will always struggle if it can’t get up the pitch and that has been Scotland’s problem for a long time.
Clarke has ball players in the likes of McGinn and McTominay in his team but the truth is that Scotland haven’t had a really good centre forward for a long time and it hurts them.
Here, when they were struggling in the face of Morocco’s early onslaught, they desperately needed an out ball in order to give themselves a breather and bring some kind of order to the game.
But too often when the ball was played up to Che Adams at the top of the formation, it came back again.
Adams will toil all day for his team and can finish but his work with the back to goal was not good enough here and the problem for Clarke is that he lacks real alternatives in the position.
It’s a hard and costly problem to solve and when Lyndon Dykes came on not much changed.
After two games, Scotland have managed two shots on target and one of them has gone in. They didn’t manage one in 96 minutes here.
SCOTLAND’S LACK OF DEPTH PROVES COSTLY
As England showed against Croatia in their opening game, this will be a World Cup won by squads rather than the best starting eleven.
England score highly on that marker whereby a team like Scotland doesn’t.
In this climate and playing conditions – coupled with the intense emotional pressure of World Cup football – countries need to be able to inject freshness and momentum, whether they are chasing a game or trying to hold on to something.
Scotland suffered here because they couldn’t do that. They were actually well in the game for spells as the game wore on and this was when they needed a game changer to call on.
But the best Clarke had to offer was a shout for young Ben Gannon-Doak.
The 20-year-old had a real influence down the right and may have to start against Brazil. But Scotland need more like him.
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