John McGinn has admitted Scotland’s chances of progressing through the World Cup are “unlikely” after their 3-0 defeat to Brazil ended their hopes of progressing into the tournament.
Scotland went into Wednesday night’s match as the underdogs, but a narrow loss would likely have kept their hopes of qualifying for the last 32 alive. Scotland beat Haiti in their first World Cup match and then lost to Morocco, but there was always a chance they could take the three points if their goal difference remained respectable. Those prospects were dashed by the crushing defeat of the South American team.
In Miami, Scotland were completely behind from start to finish, with Vinicius Junior exploiting a defensive error and conceding a goal after less than 10 minutes, giving Brazil the lead. The Real Madrid forward then doubled his advantage just before the interval – after another of his shots was ruled out by VAR.
Brazil further closed Scotland’s goal difference at a crucial moment with Matheus Cunha adding a third goal, but Scotland remain hopeful of progressing as one of the best third-place teams. But McGinn worries the damage may be irreparable.
He told the BBC: “Obviously we’ve broken our bones. We conceded a poor goal at a bad time against a team that punishes us for quality. We had some chances but now we have to wait. The players are broken. We lacked quality tonight, but we gave it our all. The players are empty. It’s unlikely[to qualify]but we’ll see.”
The Aston Villa star admitted Vinicius’s canceled goal – which was annulled after VAR intervened and drew the referee’s attention to a foul on defender Jack Hendry – could be crucial in a wider sense.
“In the moment they (Brazil) hurt you. They allowed us to have the ball, but at this level if you make a mistake you are punished. We were probably lucky that the (second) goal was disallowed,” he added.
Scotland coach Steve Clarke was less optimistic, lamenting that the defeat was self-inflicted. “We gave them a goal and gave them the game they wanted, but it was disappointing,” he said.
Meanwhile, Andy Robertson also gave his verdict on the match, believing the next few days will be “horrible” until Scotland learn their fate.
“Time will tell,” Robertson said. “As a group, we didn’t want to put ourselves in a position where we had to look at all the teams and expect this team to score or that team to score. Time will tell, but maybe we can try again. The next few days are going to be long and scary, but we decided to put ourselves in this position.”
