Scotland Face Brazil With First World Cup Knockout at
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- Scotland face Brazil in Miami on Wednesday, with a win, draw, or limited defeat potentially delivering their first-ever World Cup knockout-round qualification — possibly as one of the best third-placed teams.
- Scotland failed to record a shot on target against Morocco on Friday, the first time that's happened to them at a World Cup since 1986, and have registered just two shots on target across their last 1.5 matches.
- Striker Che Adams has logged three touches in the opposition box across 146 minutes, and Scotland's three goals across their last five tournament matches (dating to Euro 2024) have all come from two deflected shots and one own goal.
- Assistant manager Steven Naismith told reporters in Charlotte on Sunday that Scotland must 'take risks to try to score' when in control, while still setting their shape against a Brazil side he called 'infinitely more technically adept' with 'world-class finishers.'
- Naismith cited Miami's oppressive heat and Brazil's searing pace out wide as reasons a gung-ho approach would be reckless, pointing out Brazil led Haiti 3-0 before half-time in their previous match.
- Manager Steve Clarke has been criticised in places for a risk-averse approach against Morocco — a game Scotland finished with an attacking line of Lyndon Dykes, Ross Stewart, Scott McTominay and Ben Gannon-Doak — but Naismith defended the plan as a deliberate effort to balance 'ambition and pragmatism.'
Why it matters: Scotland could become the first squad in the national team's history to reach a World Cup knockout round, but doing so after registering zero shots on target against Morocco would sharpen longstanding criticism of Clarke's cautious tactics and force the Tartan Army to weigh the symbolism of qualification against the quality of the football that produced it.
