Scotland’s World Cup hopes are hanging by the finest of threads after a 3-0 defeat by Brazil in their final group-stage game – a result that leaves them reliant on a complex set of results over the coming days if they are to reach the knockout phase for the first time. An early blunder from Scott McKenna handed Brazil the opener against the five-time world champions, and Vinicius Jr went on to score twice, with Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha adding a third after the break. The loss, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, prompted Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn to concede his side need a miracle. “It’s the way I feel now,” McGinn said. “We’ll probably hurt tonight, hurt tomorrow and then just keep our fingers crossed. If we go into the last 32, if we get a miracle, we’ll need to be better.”
As Scotland’s players left the pitch, the cameras captured a different kind of spectacle in the stands: Sir David Beckham, the England icon, sipping from a supersized glass of red wine as temperatures soared well past 30C. Social media erupted. “David Beckham with a fishbowl of red wine,” one fan posted. Another asked: “Did everyone see David Beckham take the biggest swig of red wine from the biggest glass ever?” His choice of drink in the Miami humidity baffled some, but Beckham, seated alongside his son Cruz, appeared unmoved as he watched Scotland’s hopes disintegrate.
“Scotland need a miracle to reach the World Cup knockouts after a 3-0 Brazil defeat; Beckham's giant wine glass went viral.”
Reaching the last 32 is now out of Scotland’s hands. They will progress only if they are among the eight best third-placed sides across all groups – and that means waiting until at least Sunday to learn their fate. According to Opta, teams with three points and a goal difference of -3 – where Scotland now sit – have only a 42% chance of making the cut. With nine groups still to play, Steve Clarke’s men need a minimum of four scenarios to fall in their favour. They need, among other outcomes, for both Ecuador and Curacao to fail to win in Group E, or for Sweden to lose to Japan by four or more goals in Group F. In Group D, a draw between Paraguay and Australia would send both through – Scotland need one to lose heavily. Their chances took another blow when South Africa’s surprise win over South Korea left the Koreans third on three points with a better goal difference.
“It leaves us in the worst possible position from this morning,” McGinn added. “We gave ourselves a good platform to go and qualify and tonight we’ve made that very difficult. There’s no hiding from that. We need a lot to go our way, we will hope, but what we…” His sentence trailed off. Scotland can only wait.