It’s Coming Hame! Can McTominay Break Scotland’s World Cup Curse? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | World Cup Daily #9

[00:00:00] Scotland, population 5.5 million, smaller than most cities and yet the first ever international football match was played in Glasgow 1872. A Scotsman, Thomas Donoghue, is credited with introducing football to Brazil, the most successful nation in World Cup history.

[00:00:22] Alexander Graham Bell, John Logie Baird, the telephone, the television. Scotland gave the world all of it. So while they may never have lifted the World Cup trophy, it's entirely fair to say, without Scotland, they may never have been a World Cup. No Scotland, no party, they're back. 28 years later, it's coming home.

[00:00:46] Welcome back to Foot in Review, World Cup Daily episode number 9. I'm joined by my very good friends and fellow Scots, Homer and Neil. And we're setting it off properly. Scotland, 28 years later, the same opponents they faced in 1998, bar one, the most cursed record in international football.

[00:01:14] Today we ask the honest question, is it our time? And, patron supporters, this show will be in your feed now. Prediction League closes before the start of the kick-off for the first game. Get your picks in. There's links in the show notes. But first of all, a very quick hello to my good friend Neil. How are you doing, mate? I'm great, thanks. Great to be back on and happy to be on discussing all things Scotland. Thank you. Absolutely brilliant to have you back.

[00:01:43] And to you, Homer, how are you doing, my friend? I'm good. Very good. Thanks for having me back on. It's going to be an amazing show. We are talking about something that's very close to our heart. Our home country, the mighty Scotland. But let's start, guys. 28 years later, the weight of history. Scotland have been to eight World Cups. They have never, not once, made it past the group stages. That is 12 major tournaments in total we've been to.

[00:02:12] World Cups, European Championships with zero knockout stage appearances. Opta and Alice confirm it's comfortably an all-time record. Maybe not one that we want to have. No nation comes close. They've had legendary players. They've had legendary players. Dennis Law, King Kenny Dalglish, Sunas. They went unbeaten at the World Cup in 1974 and still went home.

[00:02:37] Who can forget Archie Gemmel's wonderful goal at Argentina 1978 against the mighty Dutch. And still we went home. In 1998, the last time we were there, they lost Brazil and Morocco. 20 years have passed and the draw has given us Brazil and Morocco again. When Clark saw the draw, his response was perfect. He said, bring it on. The draw is fantastic.

[00:03:03] One of the big things in my head was there's no European teams to face. You know? So let's go into it, guys. Does history matter? Or is the squad different enough that we can park the past? Let's go with you, Neil. Does history matter? I think when it comes to being a Scotland fan, it 100% does, yeah. I think it's part of our stigma. However, they're there to be broken. And I don't know. I've got mixed feelings this World Cup.

[00:03:33] I think I'm quite quietly excited, quietly confident that we could do okay. But being the age of my arm and similar age to you, we both know long enough and experience long enough that we know what tends to happen at these types of things. But I genuinely think we might do okay with this group. I'm not sure. Neil, this is the most exciting I've seen you in any pod that we've done. So let's go to you. Smiling on you. Yeah. Let's go to Homer.

[00:04:03] Homer, are you smiling? Do you think history matters? Or do you think it's been that long that this team's good enough? Yeah, it obviously matters. It's caused a lot of trauma for many Scotland fans. Especially when you look at the 74 team, the 78 team. They were two fantastic teams. Like Ballon d'Or winners. Enidoglis. You had Sunnis. Law. Archie Gemmodee players that we could only dream of that have any quality players right now.

[00:04:33] But oddly, I generally think they have a good chance of getting out of the group stage. I just think the way that the tournament's been increased this year, there's a third place to get out of the groups. I generally think that this could be the time they actually manage it. With arguably a weaker squad than they've had. When you talk about the squad, and let's talk about one of the players that we're all super excited to see.

[00:05:00] Mick Tommie, you know, is he Scotland's best ever player at the World Cup? You know, we've had brilliant players at the World Cup before. But have they ever had a player in the form of Mick Tommie? He arrives right now. And joined Napoli in 24. And Antonio Conte gave him attacking freedom and responsibility. He scored 12 goals, won the Serie A. Was named the player of the season for the entire Italian top flight.

[00:05:29] Then he went to Hamden. And who can forget that bicycle kick he scored against Denmark? A six-foot-three giant floating in the air. And he sent Scotland to the World Cup. If Scott get out of this group, Mick Tommie's name will be sung for the next generation. For you, Homer, I know you're a massive Italian football fan. What does Mick Tommie mean to this team? Pretty much everything, to be honest. He's the fulcrum of it all. He's the talisman.

[00:05:59] In Clark's set-up, the striker isn't really there to score. Like John Kay said the other day, they're there to facilitate other players, such as Mick Tommie or McGinn. So if Scotland want to go through, they really need to rely on Mick Tommie hitting the back of the net a few times. Or at least try to set somebody up a couple of times. Because we lack a lot of quality. And he's the one individual that really just has every bit of quality that's needed.

[00:06:30] And for you, Neil, what does he actually have to do in this tournament for you to be up there with the greats that we think about when we think of great Scottish players? It's hard to talk what Homer said. I 100% agree with every single word he just said. No McTommie, no party. If you ask me, if he's not going to turn up and play, I think we're going to struggle in games. He is the man we're going to be looking to. He's done it against Spain. He's done it against Denmark.

[00:06:59] He's done it in big games. And he's proven he can do it in big games. As for greatest ever, greatest World Cup player, time will tell. And frankly, to big him up, it's in his hands. If he wants to be Scotland's biggest ever World Cup player, then he can be. If he can pull off wins and score goals against Haiti and Morocco and, dare I say, Brazil,

[00:07:25] and get us out of group, to put us into a position where, frankly, we've never been before, we'd have to put him in that light of being our most successful player. So it's in his hands. He can do it. He's good enough to do it, I think. Yeah. I mean, if it's not McTominay, Homer, who else do you think will have a massive impact for us? There's a few. Obviously, I've mentioned John McGinn.

[00:07:55] He's just of winning the Europa League with Aslan Villa, being very central to that success. You have Gandhi Robertson. He's not maybe had the best year with Liverpool. He's peaks past him. But the fact that he's joining Tottenham, he's still got a good level in him. So you're looking at them too. If Ciarán Tuna can stay fit, he will arguably be very, very influential in the team.

[00:08:24] Losing Billy Gilmore is a bit of a second, because he's one of the type of players that Scotland don't really have, which is somebody that can come off the midfield, get the ball with the centre-backs, turn and get the play going again. And then whoever we pick up front, they have a horrible task of leading the line, press everything. And like I said, we don't really use them to essentially score goals, but they're going to have to chip in. So if that's Shanklin or Adams or Dykes or Hurst.

[00:08:53] But I think the main guy is going to be after McTominay has to be McGinn. Do you think he'll start? McGinn? Yeah. After the weekend, though. Yeah. You can't not play him. Where he plays, though, is the thing, though. I think I would have said playing him off the right, McTominay off the left, like they do for Villa and Napoli, might have been the smartest thing. But losing Gilmore means they have to rejig things about.

[00:09:22] So I think McTominay might play a bit deeper, maybe beside Christie. And somebody else, Ferguson comes in and plays more forward. But it's hard to tell because we don't know what Clark's going to do formation-wise. Well, let's go. We've talked a bit about the group. So let's quickly run through it then. So, you know, we've got three games. Haiti in Boston, June 14th, ranked 83rd in the world. Haiti are in this tournament for the first time since 1976.

[00:09:52] Scotland got to win this game. A draw would be deeply concerning. A win sets the tone, gives Scotland that platform they need for Morocco on June 19th. We are ranked 8th in the world. Semi-finalists in 2022. Experience, discipline, dangerous. Getting a point from that game would be a major result and put Scotland in a very strong position. And then we have the team we always seem to face in the World Cup in Brazil. Ranked 6th in the world, five-time champions, managed by Ancelotti.

[00:10:21] This game, potentially Scotland will sacrifice. They need to get into having an already secured or knockout stage berth if possible. Here is the realistic path for us. Win against Haiti. Draw Morocco. Scotland will go through as group winners or runners-up if they draw. If they draw to Haiti and lose to Morocco, they're relying on being one of the best third-place teams. That's still possible, but as usual for Scotland, that would be nerve-wracking. Everything starts on June 14th.

[00:10:49] So, for you, Neil, what result against Haiti would be acceptable? It's almost down to a one-game group, isn't it? The way it's kind of panning out. It's a must-win and we don't have a great record against teams like us. We beat Zaire. We've played Costa Ricas before. We've played Perus at the time we're supposed to beat them.

[00:11:14] Our history records, we don't have good records against teams like that in opening games. It's a must-win game. It's an absolute nothing. A draw is, frankly, a disaster. I think it really is. Have to win the game. Because Morocco is going to be so, so good. They're going to be a good team, I think. I wouldn't quite say they're a dark horse team to repeat what they've done in the previous World Cup, but they're one of the top nations in Africa. They're one of the, say, top ten in the world.

[00:11:44] They've got really good players, really good experience. Brazil versus Brazil, it doesn't matter what Brazil. They always turn up at World Cups. If we get, like, a 74. We hammered Brazil 0-0 in 1974. So we really need a repeat of performance like that. Yeah. Haiti is just, he's got to go. He went 4-4-2 at the weekend in the friendly. I think, the reason I asked for him about the McGinn thing,

[00:12:13] I think he's created a big problem. The way they played on Saturday for 45 minutes without McGinn in the team. He's got to go two up front. He's got to go Shea Adams in Shanklin for me. So it's who drops out for me. I personally think McGinn's one of our top players. If he's not a top player, he's one of our top two or three players. He's got to start somewhere. So who do you take out is the big question. Yeah. So let's go with it. Let's be a Scott, as we always are.

[00:12:40] We're super optimistic until the first whistle. And then we then start slating the team. But let's say we beat Haiti. MoMA. Let's do two scenarios. We either draw with Haiti or we beat Haiti. Let's start with the beat Haiti. What would you expect Scotland then against Morocco to beat? For me, it depends on what result we get with Haiti.

[00:13:05] If it's a nearly very bad 1-0 win, I think it leads to a downward trend. I think they need to go and smash Haiti. But it needs to be a 4, maybe a 5. Because then it cements that comfort blanket of being maybe the third best one. So if they beat Haiti, like I said, they've got a smash storm. Going into Morocco, I think it gives that comfort blanket where they can try and get a score draw.

[00:13:29] But I think ultimately they still have to go and target a win against Morocco to be really sure of a place. And Morocco's not a bad team. So it's one of the ones. A draw would be justifiably a good result. Okay, and so we've talked about it and you guys have kind of talked about that. Steve Clarke, will he actually let the handbrake off? He's been criticised throughout his tenure for being too conservative.

[00:13:58] The back five was his default formation for years. Safe, organised, effective and qualifying. It was a disaster in major tournaments. Euro 2024 was a moment of reckoning. 5-1 to Germany the opener. The most catastrophic start of any Scottish team in a major tournament. To his credit he changed. He dropped to a back five immediately. Moved to a 4-2-3-1. And it worked in qualifying. 13 goals scored. Topped the group. But the question remains.

[00:14:27] At a World Cup against Brazil and Morocco, does Clarke go back to that safety blanket? Does he trust the 4-2-3-1? And ask McTominay and Gannon Doakes to create? Or does he park the bus, take a point from Haiti and Morocco and hope? Sky Sports have flagged Robertson tier in the left-back dilemma as being one of his sort of five selection decisions he needs to make. Both are in the squad. Both should start. Both play in a similar position.

[00:14:55] How does he solve that tells you everything about his ambition. So for you, Homer, do you trust Clarke to be bold? He has to. The back five. It was okay for qualifying. But like you said, Germany was just an absolute disaster. Absolutely hammered. So I think for Haiti, he has to go 4-4-2. He has to be really on the front foot. And then against the likes of Morocco and Brazil, go to the 4-2-3-1.

[00:15:24] And try and soak up a bit of pressure. And then counter. So the handbrake has to come off. You can't go to the World Cup and try and just to weakly and timidly treacle through. They have to just really go for it. Like I said, given that there's a third place, go and smash Haiti and then concentrate on the next couple of games after it. I mean, Neil, if Steve Clarke picked up the phone and phoned you, looking for a bit of advice, what formation would you go with against Haiti?

[00:15:54] Would you go the 4-4-2 as Homer suggested? Who would you play up front? Been troubled then if he phoned me. I want to say, firstly, that the concerning thing with Steve Clarke is he didn't, Germany 24, he didn't learn from the Euro 20, or was it 21? When it was COVID. 21, we played two games at Hamden trying not to lose the game and I thought, Euro 24,

[00:16:23] he might have learned from that and he didn't learn from that and then, because he tried to pick it up against England at Wembley after the damage was already done. He then done similar the last tournament, so I would like to think, I think it helps that we play Haiti first because he will not get away with playing conservative, let's not lose a game of football against Haiti. So, I think the weekend game there, yes, it was a friendly and oblivious,

[00:16:52] I'm not a Bolivian football expert by any means, but I believe that they played quite an experimental team where they played a few younger players than they would normally play, but to beat a South American team 4-0 at half times, for us, this is very impressive. So, I think, I think he's got, I think he'll play 4-4 too, I think he's got to, if he can wrap Gannon Doak up and Cotton Rule till Saturday, make sure he stays fit. If he comes out, he looks like the one player that will have a spark for us that seems to

[00:17:22] get in behind, run at defenders because we don't really have any other than him. Whether they target that, I would definitely play 4-4 too, he's got to go for the win, has to 100% attack and win the game Saturday, Sunday. I mean, for you, Graham, does he go with Che Adams and Rangers Lawrence Shanklin up front? If he has gone 4-4 too, I think that's his best choice, going with Shanklin and Adams. If he's going for one striker,

[00:17:51] it really depends on what the job, but Lyndon Dykes isn't a great striker generally, but he can do that old-fashioned donkey work that Clark really, really likes. but I personally think Shanklin, if it's a one or a two, not just the Rangers bias, but I just think in form and just fire this season, he has to be the guy that we pick. He's the best finisher. Yeah, he's the type of guy that will get you a goal out of nothing, isn't he? You know,

[00:18:22] if we're struggling with 90 minutes to go, is there a player in that squad you'd rather see of a chance than Lawrence Shanklin, you know, from that point of view. You know, it's really interesting. You know, I think being a Scotland fan and remembering it since Argentina, you know, 78 is my first ever World Cup, so I am that old. I don't remember, I saw an opportunity for Scotland and Neil, you can tell us you were, you know, we'll come to you about Scotland fans travelling,

[00:18:50] but in terms of an opportunity to qualify early, this seems to be the one that we all hope Clark grabs, don't we? Has to. 1990, we should have qualified out of that group, but we just made a complete mess of the Costa Rica game where we hammered them and hit a counter-punch goal in the second half of the game and we beat Sweden and let's face it, we lost to Brazil because of a Jim Leighton goalkeeping error, if you remember it, I remember it well,

[00:19:20] should I get out of that group in 90. Yes, this is our best chance and I think the fixtures suit us, I think having Brazil last is hate to play Brazil first and take a 3-0 defeat and it's all kind of panic stations and stuff. Haiti's the one where if you're going to get off the mark, this is the game to go off the mark and get the confidence up straight away, get the nation believing, get the nation believing Steve Clarke might and I stress

[00:19:50] might believe with them because he's not intended to believe with us before, so we'll see. No, definitely, I mean, let's move on then to a slightly more lighter section, you know, is there enough beer in America for the Tartan Army? You know, we cannot do a Scotland episode without acknowledging the Tartan Army, the most celebrated travelling support in world football. They're famous not just for the noise but for goodwill. They generally connect with local communities wherever they go, they party

[00:20:19] without causing trouble, they lose with grace. In 1998 they were in France and 2026 they were in America. The Tartan Army in Boston, in Miami, in the United States, Sky Sports literally reported that a petition to legalise haggis in America was getting momentum before the squad flew out. This is the energy we're dealing with. The real question is whether American cities are ready for them. Boston could probably handle it, Miami, the Tartan Army in South Beach. This is a travel documentary I would love to watch.

[00:20:49] So, guys, I'll go to you first, Homer. What is your Tartan Army prediction for this tournament? Um, I expect chaos, madness, madness, and probably a lot of memes to come out of it. Scottish part of internet does have some amount of really good memes like Hocus Pocus, there's a pizza around your focus. That's one of the cleanest ones I could think of for this show. So,

[00:21:19] I expect there'll be plenty of that. Good humour, good will and just absolute funny banter. I will give you my one and then we're going to actually go to Neil who's actually travelled with the Tartan Army. So, my one is that I reckon that some Scotland fans will be getting their picture taken with Donald Trump 100% that will happen. In the VIP area, there will be two Scots guys that have managed to pick up a ticket, they'll be there with their kilts on and they'll be sitting next to Donald Trump as they pan over to see him. But Neil,

[00:21:49] what was your experience like travelling with the Tartan Army? What I'll say is they'll absolutely smash it over there. They smash it everywhere they go. They'll be loved. I've done a bit. I've had the loads of travelling to the Faroe Islands for a 2-2 draw and a qualifier. I've been to two. I was at Bordeaux for the Norway draw and unfortunately I was in Saint-Étienne for the Morocco defeat. I did not get a ticket for

[00:22:19] the Paris game against Brazil. I was stuck in a hotel room when my dad went to the Paris game without me. I've been to Villa Park twice for the 96 games. We went to Switzerland where we won and I went to the Holland game where we got hammered 0-0 off of Holland and I did the game of his life. So I've done a wee bit of travelling. I've been to Germany for a friendly which Don Hutchinson scored and we won 1-0. Recent years haven't been really family commitments and all that stuff.

[00:22:50] It's a joy. It's always a joy to go. They're loved everywhere they go and it'll be the same again. They'll be voted the greatest fans there. Nobody can top us. We're the best at it. There will be more kilts shown than there was when Braveheart was in the American cinemas. I'll tell you that for now. It's going to be unbelievable and I would say to any of the guys have fun. I know you'll do us all proud and make sure you wear the sunscreen because South Beach sun and the Scottish skin doesn't always go

[00:23:20] well together. That's for sure. But guys we'll go to the last part of the show. This is where we talk about what does success actually look like for Scotland. The minimum be hatey, be competitive, don't embarrass yourself potentially, historic benchmark, get past the group stage for the first time in 12 tournaments. That alone would be the greatest achievement in Scottish football in three decades. The dream, McTominay scores against Brazil, Scotland win Group C,

[00:23:50] the Tarnammy watches a round of 32 for the first time in history and somewhere the ghost of Archie Gemmell's goal finally gets some peace. Former Scotland midfielder Craig Burley who was sent off in 98 against Morocco said it best. We've had some of the greatest players in Europe through the 60s, the 70s and the 80s but never managed to get out of the group. There probably has been 100 better Scotland teams in this one but Steve Clark has done a magnificent job. Who knows

[00:24:20] this team could be the one. So Homer, for you what would be success? Success has to be getting out the grip. I know for many nations it's actually winning the tournament but being a small nation, a small population football doesn't have the funding as the rest of the world. The dream would be winning the world cup but the reality is we've never got the group stage so that has to be the first key aspect of any success

[00:24:50] which is breaking the previous best. So get out of the group and see how it goes. You can have a good draw you could get to round 16 pretty easily. So small successes I think is the best thing. So just get out of the group and then see what happens. And for you Neil, does the dream come true? Get out the group. If they get out of the group as a success regardless of what happens, we've seen smaller teams get far. Wales for instance,

[00:25:19] they've done it in the Euros, they got to a semi-final, they had a Gareth Bale on their team but if you can get out of the group and into a knockout game, who knows what we can do? Win one game, win two games and into quarterfinals. If we don't get out of the group then it's just another same old, same old. It's just the same isn't it? Yeah. And we'll very quickly end in, Homer, many points are we going to get?

[00:25:49] I'd realistically say four but if Brazil beats Morocco on Haiti, put a weak team to just avoid injuries, maybe five? Five, that would see us through, wouldn't it? I think four is realistic but if Brazil do take a little bit of approach where they just rest a few players, rotate it, I think five could be doable as well but four I think is the main point.

[00:26:19] And for you Neil, many points do you think we'll get? My heart says four, probably I don't want to say it, my head sinks, I don't know, my heart says four, I think they may get one or three, I don't know. Which I tend to positively on me, but that is so Scottish, isn't it? You know what I mean? We're positive all show, you know that's such a Scottish thing to say. I've lived through a lot of it and I've seen it all happen before so I genuinely

[00:26:49] I'm going with my heart not my head though. Anyway, thank you so much guys, it's been absolutely played. I am actually buzzing now for the World Cup to start. I will be getting up at two o'clock Sunday morning to watch us start our two-minute kicking off and hopefully we can do it. But, you know, follow us if you've enjoyed these shows and they're absolutely wonderful to do. Please follow us on Instagram at foot and review and TikTok at foot and review podcast as well. And

[00:27:19] please, please, please, please, could you leave us a five-star review on your podcast app? It literally has to do. Is there a Scotland fan who'd love to hear this on their way to say the USA or maybe just driving to work? Please, send it to them. They may need that emotional support. And Patreon supporters, remember, the Prediction League, get those entries in before the kick-off of the first match. And also, we're going to be doing the sweep extremely soon. There is links in the show notes.

[00:27:49] Sorry, check us out at foot and review.com and patreon.com forward slash foot and review. But, it has to be said, hopefully Steve Clark can rile the boys and tell them, will you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom. Thank you.