Fifteen minutes before Scotland began taking Bolivia to the cleaners at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey, a weather warning was issued. Code Orange, an air quality alert, as the temperature hit 32.7 degrees — a potential problem for those with respiratory conditions, for elderly folk, and for Scottish footballers and their sweaty foot soldiers.
Bolivia, who play home games in Tarija at 6,000 feet and in El Alto at 13,600 feet, might have been expected to relish the suffocating conditions. They beat Chile last June and Brazil last September in the latter. But the problem for Bolivia was not the heat mother nature inflicted on them — it was the heat they got from Scotland.
“Scotland thrashed Bolivia 4-0 in a sweltering World Cup warm-up, with Che Adams scoring twice.”
Steve Clarke’s side were patient, precise and clinical. They scored four goals in the first half, with Che Adams netting a brace and Scott McTominay among the other scorers, according to the Standard. Bolivia posed no threat: no World Cup to give them an edge, no players with much about them, no real answer to Scotland’s focus.
Scotland didn’t need to learn any more about themselves — save for the odd position, they are settled and vastly experienced. This was not a journey of discovery; it was a game to get spirits up ahead of the main work. Unlike last weekend, there were no injuries, another plus.
“You can caveat the hell out of this if you wish — and restraint is no bad thing — but scoring the number of goals they did, creating the chances they did, and adapting to the temperatures with relative ease was impressive and heartening,” wrote BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer.
Scotland now head to the World Cup in fine form, making their first appearance in 28 years. Next up is Haiti on Sunday, 14 June, a match live on the BBC. “Haiti will be more physical, more athletic, more pacy and more threatening,” the report noted, “but Scotland will have gained a lot of belief.”