World Cup: Scotland's Wait Is Over

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1:11Hello and welcome to the Football Daily with me, Rick Edwards, and my little friend Lloyd. We are back in Santa Monica after our Inglewood excursion yesterday. If you hear any loud noises, that is because we're outside the Oldie King's head. It's a Saturday night. We've already had a party bus. you saw a fire engine I lost my mind of course you did and there's quite a lot of excitable Scotland fans in here as well as you'd expect if you're just waking up the scores from overnight were Scotland 1-80 Brazil 1-1 Morocco 1 and Qatar got their first ever point at a World Cup drawing late on against Switzerland's 1-1 reminder though if you want to catch up on any scores or goals highlights are available on the BBC Sport website and So we'll get to all of those other games a bit later, but we have to start with Scotland.

2:00This is how it sounded when they got their goal. Liam McLeod on commentary.

2:24John McGinn, who else? Oh, listen to that crowd. I mean, we're very lucky to be here, but I would love to be in that crowd right now. That was very nervy. Like, the first half, I thought Scotland were really good, and they were hanging on in the second half. For two Englishmen, we got very invested. I was stressed. We were so invested. We were so nail-biting towards the end. There are a lot of Scotland fans in Ye Olde King's Head, down in Santa Monica. There's also a lot of Americans who claim to be Scottish and have Scottish heritage. So there was a lot of nervous people in that very small, dark pub.

3:02And I mean, I don't know what happened, but it was very much a tale of two halves. Yeah, because I thought Scotland were well worth their lead in the first half. Scott McTominay had had that great little effort off the post. And then McGinn's goal, it sort of, in a way, just felt poetic that it's Super John McGinn that gets the goal. and also that it's a really scruffy goal. A lovely scruffy goal. I mean, nice build-up, actually. It's a really good save from the keeper. Then it comes out to McGinn. I don't know if he scuffs it. He certainly doesn't hit it well. And then it sort of bounces off a couple of players.

3:36I think he was trying to slot it in the bottom right-hand corner. And if I'm honest, I thought that their keeper was fantastic. I think he had a few good saves. And also, his distribution was fantastic. But, yeah, in the end, it ended up being a bit of a scruffy goal. But they all count. They all count. Scotland getting their win the win that they knew they had to get Haiti I think in all honesty will be disappointed because they looked really lively in the second half and Scotland were really struggling to get out and they brought on Linda Dykes who obviously to try and hold it up for them he didn't really get a look in particularly yes I think Haiti will be a bit gutted because they didn't they represent themselves very well It'd be interesting to see how both teams progress playing those other teams later on, Morocco and Brazil.

4:24And we've got it all to play for. All right, let's bring in former Scotland international Charlie Adam. Charlie, as Lloyd just said, a couple of Englishmen in a pub. We were pretty stressed. I mean, God only knows how you were feeling in that last 20 minutes. Yeah, I think we made it hard work for ourselves. I didn't think we kicked the ball as well as we did. I thought we turned it over and we could have been better with the ball, but defensively, magnificent. you know, clean sheet, first winning a World Cup for a long, long time and, you know, performance, we can improve, but the most important thing was about winning and we've done that.

4:58Scotland have been away from the World Cup for 28 years, scored in 28 minutes, super John McGinn with the goal and it will be his goal because his strike was on target, Scruffy doesn't matter Charlie. No, listen, it's a brilliant, well worked goal, you know, Hanlick was a lovely ball in the channel, shaped ball in behind for Shea Adams, something that you need, especially when you're playing against a team 4-4-2, you need runners in behind lovely first touch, sets Garen Doak and then he plays it onto puts it across into the box and goes on the outside Shea Adams has his shot deflected good save from the goalkeeper and McGinn does what all other opposite side wingers does, comes in the pitch and scuffs it into the net and you're delighted because it's a scrappy goal but it's a goal that you take and that's a brilliant result and a brilliant a brilliant performance you know for the amount of pressure that was on these lads tonight and we'll take that i i think that that shea adams first touch is going to be watched again and again and again and again it's really nice it's really nice and actually as you say ben gandondoke did really well for it as well um second half it just it just wasn't really clicking for Scotland and they sat deeper and deeper and I don't know about you but that header in about the like 80, 50th minute, 84th minute, I thought it was in, I was hot in that.

6:23Yeah it's a lovely lovely ball in, it's a great header from the striker, lucky for us it didn't go on target but it happens in the game, it's international football you know you're not going to dominate for 90 minutes and you have to be resilient, you have to be you know really well organised, I thought we were defensively really strong, Hanley and Henry. But no, it was a performance that, things to work on. But again, most important thing to keep talking about is winning football matches. And this will give the lads a lot of lift. And it's always nice to see Scotland at the top of a group. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of people taking photos of the league when it came up in the pub.

7:01Can we just talk about Haiti? Were you surprised by how good they were? I think a lot of people have been kind of like trash talking them with a few other teams leading into the tournament, but actually they held themselves accountable and they had a number of opportunities and I think they were unlucky to come away without a point. Yeah, no, I thought they played extremely well. I thought they were really aggressive intent, what they were looking for. They were much better tonight than they were against New Zealand in a friendly, they got battled 4-0 and I thought the goalkeeper produced some moments tonight as well where in that New Zealand game I thought he might be a bit of a weakling but no, they've done well tonight and that's probably a big performance for them obviously they're ranked 83rd or 84th in the world we're 40 plus in the world so yeah, there's a gap but it's international football it's not as easy as you think it is and for us as a nation it's just important about winning but for the Haitians they should be proud of their performance that they've gave Scotland a good game.

8:07And like I say, that second half performance for them gives them a lift. But, you know, like us, two tough games. Morocco and Brazil next. It's really important that we got that win. Yeah, that was my slight worry as I was watching that second half pan out. I was thinking, if Haiti are doing this to Scotland, what's it going to be like when Morocco and Brazil are flying forward against them? Yeah, again, Rick, you have to realise what you're up against. And, you know, it's Brazil sixth in the world. Morocco's seventh in the world in the FIFA rankings. So these games are not going to be easy. We are probably the third best team in this group.

8:44That's just the way we are. We were rankings, but what the Scottish team have got is, we talk about resilience, we talk about good heart, energy, and we've got bundles of that. We're going to need that over the next two games, but we're going to have to be better with the ball, especially against Morocco in the next game. We're going to have to be better with the ball than we were tonight. And if we can do that, then it'll give us a better platform to stay in the game and be on the front foot and control the match better than we did second half. Do you think that Steve Clarke's decision to go pretty old school, 4-4-2, two up top, was vindicated tonight?

9:25Yeah, I think at times Adams and Shanklin, they did all right. but again second half the game sort of gets opened up and Dykes didn't really get much into the game yeah I just think it's performance dictated in terms of the two players have done really well and the friend who's leading up to it and his hand was sort of forced a little bit that he needed to play the two listen he's won the game and that's I keep saying it that's the most important thing for us as the national team is that we win the game and we give ourselves a platform and that game earlier in today Morocco-Brazil drawing is just a perfect start for us.

10:03Speaking to quite a few Scotland fans who've been worried about the absence of Billy Gilmore, I know he's with the squad, but he's not going to play, and the fear is that you miss a little bit of guile in the middle of the park, and actually, certainly in the first half, didn't really seem like the team missed him as much. No, but I felt at times Ferguson and McTominay both wanted to come closer to the ball and get together to try and get on the ball. Where at times you only needed one midfielder to come and drop down deep and the other one could have went higher. So I may probably get Lewis Ferguson to come and drop down and play McTominay higher.

10:42They were pressing with two so you only needed that three against two up there. Two centre-backs in that one and then you can have a little bit of a different shape if you needed. So yeah, maybe something that maybe McTominay was coming closer to the ball when he didn't need to and bringing extra bodies if you can kick maybe another body away from the pitch it would have been allowing Lewis Ferguson to get more time and space on the ball but they're things that you work on training the next couple of days and looking on at what can we do better and like you say it's another step up against the Moroccans in the next game Looking forward to those next two games and obviously seeing what the result was today with Brazil and Morocco how do you think it's going to pan out and what were you hoping for in the game early today between Brazil and Morocco Well I felt that Morocco would run away with the group and win every game, but you know, the Moroccans showed real quality in that game and had moments, but you know, I'll snap your hand off right now for a draw against the Moroccans in the next game.

11:43Of course you will. And, you know, that would, four points would be enough for us to qualify, and that's the most important thing as we get out of this group, and if you offer me a point right now, I'll take it. It's quite loud here. Yeah, apologies for that, Charlie, because I guess it's sort of, the sun's probably coming up in Glasgow at the moment. We are in LA, and we've been reminded every second that we are in LA. Are you going to be out of sleep now, Charlie? I mean, it's past your bedtime, but I feel like the adrenaline must be coursing through you. No, no, it's definitely past my bedtime.

12:15I'll be straight into bed. I'm back up in the morning. I'm on 12 till 2 with Chappers, so I'll be up and be straight into bed now. I'll let you get your beauty sleep. No doubt the wee man will be waking me up about half past six then. What was the score? Everyone's asking us if we've got jet lag in LA, but I think all Scottish fans are giving themselves jet lag by staying awake till this... Is it jet lag or hangover? There's a difference. I think it's a mix of both. Either way, it's well worth it. Charlie, nice speaking to you. Cheers, mate. Nah, pleasure, lads. Thank you. Cheers, mate. Take care.

12:51Former Scotland international Charlie Adam there, obviously delighted with that result. we've got a quote in from Scotland's head coach Steve Clarke talking to BBC One a bit earlier on you said you were going to do the accent so do you want to read it out Lloyd? Oh yeah yeah yeah I just said to Andy Robertson there it's about time we won the game in the group stage everyone said we must win we won the game is that alright? I don't know I guess I'm probably not the one to judge you put me under pressure there and I felt like I had to do that do the rest of it okay that's what this team is about I'm not going to do the accent that's what this team is about they can play Lloyd you are okay that's what this team is about they can play but if they have to dig in they do that as well defensively.

13:26Outstanding. That's not too bad. I went quite high pitch early doors just for a comic effect but you didn't laugh. You were panicking weren't you? I quite like that. He said it's about time we won a game at group stage and they've done it. And look again we're not Scottish but we're buzzing with that. Absolutely buzzing. You were absolutely and I was quite yeah I was I'm not quite I'm not a nail biter. Well no you're a nail clipper. I'm a nail clipper. According to your wife. But I was yeah I was tense. I was very tense. It's very, very tense.

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15:08Five light sports. So here's the first ball of this series. All the cricket you love. Check for LBW. Ouch. Lives on BBC Sounds. Smash straight back down the ground, this girl. Hear ball-by-ball coverage of the biggest competitions on the domestic and international circuits. It's a fourth week and it's the huge one. Jeez. Settle down, toughness. Sorry, mate. Cricket on 5 Live Sport. Oh, I've lived every ball of this. Listen on BBC Sounds.

15:40The Football Day at the People World Cup 2026. With Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Live from LA.

15:50Right, let's talk about the other results then. So Brazil-Morocco finished 1-1. It's probably the first game of the tournament with two heavyweight teams, as Charlie was just saying, seeded 6-7 in the world. Great. I mean, Morocco were fantastic in the first half in particular. Great first goal. The ball through is beautiful. It's very nicely finished. And I have to say, what is Alisson playing at? he's come out so far and he's obviously just reached the point where he's like oh I can't use my hands anymore yeah I mean oh dear the service that through ball was absolutely perfect it couldn't have been any more perfect and obviously Alisson has to commit himself in one way or another and he has he's come out a bit early obviously I'm not a professional goalkeeper I don't think that will ever happen but he has come out early and as you say don't give up mate thank you as he's got to that point you know you can see him kind of move down slightly and I think you know he's got to be careful If his hands get in the way, he's off.

16:50And that's even more trouble. So, yeah, look, it was... He won't enjoy watching it back as well, does he? He won't enjoy watching it back, no. And look, I think he's an absolutely fantastic goalkeeper. He'll obviously be annoyed with it. I think the whole team will be annoyed with it. But yeah, let's not take anything away from the fact that it was a fantastic goal. Brazil looked quite sluggish. They did, yeah. They just looked a bit old and like they didn't really have a kind of focal point. I think I was disappointed in them, apart from just that moment of brilliance from Vinny Jr. You've seen him score that goal a number of times.

17:25But aside from that... The Brazil squad obviously is a mix of youth and experience. You had Casemiro in there. You're thinking of Haiti, but we'll come on to that. Oh, yes, sorry, we'll come on to that in a minute. Shall we just say it now? We're going to do our favourite names of the tournament so far. and we had Yaya Sittol Sittol yeah which I think don't really need to explain why that's I think his nickname is Gunthorpe lovely he was the guy what's happening here lads I know this is a Bance merchant OG Bance merchant oh am I ever mate am I ever are you you look like an OG welcome to LA I recognise recognise the Bance for my formative years as a young man in England I know the face well thank you what's up mate and this gentleman what's up man I'm a goalkeeping coach yeah yeah yeah yeah hands safe hands oh say that ah oh say that Stephen England were you supporting Scotland in there I was supporting football next year was Wiggy you know alright there he goes and he's just been deported yeah that man was on ice cheers Wayne we were talking about Wayne's got our back always don't mess with Wayne yeah there was a guy the guy got sent off for South Africa one of them he's called Yaya Sittol do you want to do your joke again Yeah, nickname is Scunthorpe.

18:45Yeah, and then there was your one that you spotted on the bench for the US. Austin Trustee, which I think sounds like a 70s car. Yeah, good. But I think we've got a player named, who will be very hard to beat as our favourite, and it was the left-back for Haiti, whose name was... Martin Experience. And you actually can't beat that. You can't beat that. My only gripe with it is if you are a coach, you've got to have him as a sub. And bring on, yeah. Yeah, what you're doing, you're bringing on experience. Yeah. And then if you've got a right back, ideally call him something like Jimmy Quality. Jimmy Quality.

19:16Just lacking a little bit of... Paul, legs are gone. And I think he actually was on the bench for Croatia.

19:29So, I've lost myself with delight, actually. Oh, yes. So the Brazilian team, we'll get back to that. The Brazilian team is a mix of youth and experience. You're thinking of hating. Carry on. Casemiro, who was absolutely classic Casemiro today, hasn't really got the pace, so we'll just put a leg out, pick up a yellow card. And then there was a beautiful moment where you'd gone to go and get your coffee, sat down on the seat, recognised the challenge, didn't realise there'd been a substitution, and... What happened? What did happen? Oh, it was Fabinho. Oh, it was, yeah. Basically, I saw from distance a horrible, niggly foul, and I just thought, I know that I know that body shape I know that exact foul I've said that so many times before and it was of course my dear friend Fabinho formally of Liverpool but as you say they were quite sluggish today they weren't a bit like Scotland in the second half I mean they weren't getting too many second balls but the thing is like it's a bit of an older team like Fabinho he's not a young gun Casemiro he's not a young gun so it'd be interesting to see how they progress or not progress I mean both teams looked quite tired it was pretty hot wasn't it it was hot and it did I think Denno said to us earlier, it kind of petered out a bit.

20:41Vinnie Jr.'s goal was the first goal, I think, that has been scored in this tournament where you didn't criticise the goalkeeper. Oh yeah, no, it was quick. It was a fast goal. A lot of goals in this tournament or shots, I've been saying hold on to that, do you know what I mean? All of it. As a goalkeeper expert. And we'll have Paul Robinson on, I'm sure, at some point. He'll say the same thing, yeah. But yeah, that goal was quick. We talked about the stats in yesterday's podcast, how the World Cup this year, they're basically bringing in stats that we don't necessarily need. They're Americanizing.

21:15We don't understand. Not so that they're bad. I don't know what that means. There's numbers and lines, but we don't really understand it. But one of them is the pace of the goal yesterday in the USA game. We saw quite a few fast goals. Today's goal, do you want to guess at how many kilometres an hour? Of course, no, Vinny Juniors. I think it's hit I think it's over 100 I'm saying 105km an hour 113 Wow Yeah Which is very very quick And you cannot be expected To get to that There's a nice quote actually From Vinny Jr He said I'm not here To be the best player Of the tournament I'm here to help Brazil Get back to the top And he did You know He did his part But he's going to need The rest of them To butt their ideas up slightly Yeah He is And also It's quite nice to hear that from him He's not entirely loved By the whole Of the world Obviously, Real Madrid fans and Brazil fans love him.

22:04But he does a lot of house-ery, should we say. Yeah, but then he also, I mean, I don't know. I sort of feel for the guy. Like, he gets some horrible treatment. Oh, no, he does. He does. And I think this is, you know, like, sadly, he's going to have to try and win people over. And I think that's a beautiful statement saying that, you know, I want to help Brazil get back to the top. And it's not about me because there's a lot of footballers, obviously. If I was a professional footballer, it would be. It's a colossal if, isn't it? Yeah. The IF's doing a lot of work there. You would want to make it all about yourself.

22:38Interestingly, when we've talked about who people think might win this tournament, there's been five, six, seven teams mentioned, including some dark horses. No one said Brazil. Really? And on the evidence of that showing, you kind of see why. One guy I wanted to mention, who we were both really impressed by, is Buwadi. Yeah. at the, I think he's 18. 18 years old. And he absolutely bossed the midfield. And he's playing against some of the best midfielders of a generation. I mean, maybe not at their peak still, but Bruno Gimaraes, you've got Fabinho or Casemiro or Pacetala, all of these guys. And he was everywhere, always wanted the ball, really dynamic.

23:24I thought he was, I'll be honest, I'd never heard of him. He was really, really caught the eye. And I thought, ah, he could be one of those who goes on and this is his tournament. There's a few moments today where Vinicius Junior had to foul him because he couldn't get the ball off him. And it wasn't necessarily just a play. It was the way in which he was dictating the play off the ball as well. The confidence. The confidence as well. And he was like all the time, like, give it to me, give it to me. And then like applauding people when they'd passed. And he kind of goes, this lad's 18 years old.

23:51I couldn't cook a chicken Kiev at the age of 18 years old. And here he is. I think you'd come on. My mum was doing it. but he reminded me a little bit of Granit Xhaka, like when he was in his peak at Arsenal, the whole time just conducting and just pointing and doing that and just the way he wanted to take that ball and you know, we alluded to it earlier with the chat with Charlie, I mean that's kind of what Billy Gilmore does, and you know so it was great to see, 18 years old and absolutely bossing it In that Brazil team you're so used to Brazil having megastars and I guess in Vinicius Junior they have won Rafinha maybe although he didn't have a particularly good game today and then I don't know I mean Alisson possibly although he didn't cover himself in glory did make that really good sort of double save at the end he did yeah the scoop yeah I think when you again you said earlier Brazil haven't been mentioned as contenders to win the tournament, but they do live on legacy.

25:01It's a little bit like Manchester United in the Premier League, they do live on legacy, but at the moment, they haven't got that many players, as you say, that could just tip them to the top. It's also, and this is quite frustrating, and it kind of brings us on to the previous game, they showed for Morocco's goal, the VAR, to demonstrate that the guy who scored it was onside by about 15 yards. Well, it was about that party boss that just went by. He was by that. You sort of thought, I absolutely do not need to see that. Nobody needs to see that. It's quite a long time after as well. It's completely pointless.

25:37Whereas in the Qatar-Switzerland game, the first goal was a penalty, and the guy gets cleaned out by the goalkeeper. Absolutely. No doubt. If he's onside, definite penalty. no complaints but it looks like and it's hard to tell on the pitch it looks like he's marginally offside and so what you want is their funny little graphic where they have their cartoon men and they can demonstrate whether it was onside or offside and they just haven't shown it and everyone I mean Gary Neville mainly everyone is fuming he was really cross he was calling it a dictatorship but it is it's really bizarre that you have you have to show it or you're suspicious yeah Because to the naked eye, he looks offside.

26:21Absolutely. I could be wrong here. Gary Neville said, prove to us it's offside, and I think he's right. It looked very suspicious. It looked kind of dictatorial. And FIFA have released a statement. Oh, have they? Go on. Do you want me to read that statement? On what accent are you going to do? I'll probably just do kind of like Lincolnshire in England, if that's okay. Okay. A brief technical outage, no, a brief technical outage prevented the onside animation graphic from being generated. The workflow of the VAR was not affected by this issue and followed the normal procedure in checking the on-field decision.

26:53The lines used by VAR to check the position of the relevant players did not show the attacking player to be in an offside position in either of the two situations immediately before the penalty decision. My ear is completely closed over there. I think it's wrong. I do think that that is wrong. He was in an offside position. I think this is them just trying to put something out there just to shut us up and, in their words, chill out. We didn't get it wrong. Chill, relax. It was a full stadium. I don't think there is a more boring word in the English language than workflow. I hate the word workflow.