Scotland scrap past Haiti for winning World Cup return: World Cup Daily

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1:52Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Scotland win their first World Cup match since 1990. their first goal since 98 and they topped Group C above Brazil. Stop the count. John McGinn's deflected strike enough to beat a spirited and attacking Haiti side but blimey it was tense at the end. Who knows if it'll be enough by the end of the group stages but Scotland don't win often and a win is a win. Brazil-Morocco started like the game we hoped it would be. A glorious Brahim Diaz pass set up a glorious Saibari finish before Vinicius Jr decided a World Cup just needs a Brazilian to pick it up and do something brilliant but after that it kind of petered out.

2:24Qatar Well done, Switzerland in injury time to take a point. And we don't know the Socceroos Turkey result yet, but you do. And we'll have a report from our man, Jack Snape, edited in at a convenient moment. We'll look ahead to tomorrow. Germany's campaign begins and Netherlands, Japan looks fun. There's plenty of AOB, the England chef, Wilson in shock, music knowledge, and the many diagnoses of Barry's ankle problem. All that plus your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

2:50On the panel today, Barry Glendening. Welcome. Hello, Max. First pod of the tournament for the Guardian US Soccer Editor, Alex Abnos. Hey, Alex. Hello, Max. And back again, the Guardian US Soccer Correspondent, Jeff Ruder. Hi, Max. Right, worth noting, we are recording before the Australia-Turkey game, as I said in the intro. So in case that finished 9-8 and you're wondering why it's not leading the pod, our man Jack Snape is there. We'll leave us a match report. Come on, the Socceroos. But let's begin in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Scotland 1, Haiti 0. Scotland's fifth ever winner at a World Cup.

3:18Their first since beating Sweden in Italia 90. joining us for part one, live and direct from the Jazz Bar over there, Ewan Murray, our Scottish football correspondent. Ewan, how tense was the end of that? More tense than I would have liked it to be. It's a strange situation because, as you said, it's Scotland's only fifth foot to get a World Cup proper. First since 1990, first appearance here since 1998. They're at the top of the group. But I think we wanted and probably needed more from that game, including simply in goal difference terms, in terms of trying to get out of the group with three points.

3:52I thought it was a nervous performance at times. I thought it was pretty ragged. And again, you know, on the big stage, that's the third time in a row at a big tournament. I just think they haven't quite played as well as they can. And I think, you know, they're now going to be clinging on over the next two games. And I fear that winning only 1-0 in this game might prove quite damaging. Yeah, I wonder if you, it's quite hard to know, isn't it? Do you have to recalibrate? Because Haiti were good in this game. And so by the end, and the fact that Scotland didn't really have the ball for the last half hour, that getting away with three points is pretty fantastic.

4:23But at the same time, I totally hear what you're saying. I mean, it's tricky. I don't want to diss a team who's come to the World Cup and won. I just think it's difficult to ignore that bigger picture. And Weston-Hedley, they're of their moments. I didn't really feel they were going to score. You will tell me they could have done, and of course they could. But I just thought Scotland got slack when there was a chance to build on that 1-0 lead and do more in the game. They didn't do it. They didn't put the foot down. and they didn't press home their advantage. I feel a little bit down and sound a little bit down because I fear that may welcome back to haunt Scotland given the pretty ferocious two games they've got coming up.

5:02I think this was the game to make hate. And listen, by the way, you watch the game, these are not teams who are going to trouble the judge in this competition, but I think Scotland could and should have had proper ambitions of winning this game. Even 2-0, actually, I would have felt... pretty differently about it. I think they would then be in a decent position, whereas now I think it's going to be the trickier than it needed to be.

5:25Max Rushden:Ewan, do you put... I, like you, feel a bit bad about pissing on their chips, but I think they needed to score more goals in this game. Do you put... They sat back a lot in the second half. Is that down to Steve Clarke's conservatism or is it down to the conditions? I believe it was pretty brutally hot there. No I wouldn't blame Steve Clarke In fact actually I think Playing two strikers maybe caused them a bit of a problem Because they couldn't get a proper control Of the midfield And Scott McTominay I think was pretty anonymous during the game That obviously is a big problem for Scotland when that happens I didn't think McGinn was influential enough Besides the goal I wouldn't blame the manager Although I do think the next two games The two strikers thing may disappear They may put as many midfielders on the pitch as they can I just think they couldn't get an adequate grip Of the game in the middle of the pitch I wouldn't blame the heat and I wouldn't blame the manager I just think some players notably McTominay I think didn't perform as they could I'd love them to play 4-4-2 against Morocco and Brazil just so you know only two in the middle there I mean it was I asked my mate Martin Hunts Hunter who was at the ground like what is the over because I was wary that we were going to have this discussion and sort of sound pretty morose after Scotland who don't win at World Cups and he said yeah amongst the fans it's basically relief after the end of that game and when you look at the start of the game and okay Haiti just attacked and attacked and attacked and they didn't stop doing that but Scotland had their moments and it was all through Ben Gann and Doak who looks so crucial to this whole team Yeah that's right that's true Yeah the fans I think the fans celebrated at the end and they should celebrate at the end they haven't been here for a long time they've won a game and again I don't want to use Barry's phrase piss on their chips that's not but I think there's a balance here and I think it would be unwise to ignore the ramifications potentially of this result.

7:16Now listen, they might go and defend brilliantly and play a lot better in the next two games. Maybe there was nervousness attached to the first game back at World Cup. There could be extenuating circumstances. But I think supporters in the cold light of day or tomorrow morning might think, maybe we needed more out of this game. That's just the sense I can't quite get rid of. And also, those supporters, I think, visibly have far, far more to drink than me today. so their mood will be very different to mine. I was going to say when you said in the cold light of day tomorrow morning you might say in the cold light of day tomorrow afternoon or perhaps tomorrow evening.

7:54I suppose you and they did like if you try and look at the positives Ganondot was great they did defend their box they defended the box incredibly well in that game. I mean he's not played a lot of football so you can't rely on him playing 90 minutes in every game but he has that electric pace and he's so direct that he scares teams. He's a real asset in Scotland. I agree with you I thought the centre backs were good I thought Lewis Ferguson was good in the middle of the pitch. There were encouraging bits like that, but I just think they didn't have enough control of the game, didn't create enough chances, didn't impose themselves on the game enough from a position of 1-0 up where I thought they should have relaxed.

8:26I thought they actually went the other way and got a little bit scuddy and a little bit nervous. We come into this game, I came into this game thinking, well, Haiti will park the bus. And I, that's not how you park a bus. No, no. If their goal was to park the bus, they did a terrible, terrible job. and the game was all the better for it. I thought they put forth just an incredible performance. I think they should be really proud of themselves. They went out and attacked Scotland the same way that they have went out and attacked countless CONCACAF teams over the years. I mean, let's remember, this is a team that hasn't played any home matches at all since 2021 due to just all the unrest in their country.

9:02And they won their qualifying group that featured Costa Rica and Honduras, two teams that have qualified for the World Cup a few times from the CONCACAF region. So, you know, my heart actually kind of breaks for Haiti a little bit. I felt like they really deserve something out of this game. They had that close header at the end of the game from from Piero. It was just, you know, it seemed like he made just good enough contact on it. And I was envisioning the net rippling and oh, my God, what's what's going to happen next? And one of you said, I can't remember, you know, Piero does sound like Aguero.

9:33It was there. It was on the planet. It was right there. You can really scream that. And like, are we guilty of underestimating Haiti, Jeff? In this sort of commentary of Scotland needed to do more, is that, or can both things be true? Both can be true. I think that when you're looking just at the group draw, this was the game that Scotland would look and say, right, if we're going to expect to be on the wrong side of it against Brazil and Morocco, we really need to be on the right side of it on this one to an extended extent. like you know like you and a saying and i just think that they they really did haiti did compote themselves quite well it was just you could see the struggles were often just in the technical execution of what they were doing but you could tell that they were seeing the passing lanes available to them they were winning the fouls in dangerous areas and understanding where they wanted to get it to it just couldn't quite get to the targets it needed to but i mean generally it was a really respectable performance from haiti i think it was one that did a lot of their fans proud and keep in mind they had to change jerseys just a few days ago right so yeah uh that certainly throws a spanner in the works in terms of your preparations to a minor degree and um yeah just never really seem to catch breaks on the field or often so the final ball i guess is yeah i think

10:41Max Rushden:sean rickner bellegarde's set piece delivery really let them down it was dire and i think don't think i'm a mistake but i think that was quite noticeable during his time it was this season that he took a lot of corners and free kicks and they weren't very good. So maybe time to change their set-piece man. Ewan, how much do you think... I'm always wary of saying, you know, history puts pressure on these players. Of course, they can't avoid hearing about this kind of stuff. But because Scotland don't... You know, Scotland's last win was in 1990, right? It's just such an extraordinary amount of time ago.

11:17Like, however much I want... You know, their last goal was in 1998. I watched it quite a good finish from Craig Burley as it goes against Norway but like that's so long ago and I just wonder if that puts pressure on that puts pressure when you know you're 1-0 up when you know you can get a win for your nation or is that giving them an excuse? No I'm not sure a lot of that means much to players who were born when these Scotland players were born it doesn't mean much it's like saying there's Costa Rica and Peru and Zaire and Iran I don't think that means anything but what I do think is the scale of the build up around Scotland the scale of support they have the scale of noise around them.

11:52It's all positive, but I think that does apply pressure. There's no doubt about that. They're not used to that kind of thing. So I think that is not an excuse. I think it's a reasonable extenuating circumstance, absolutely. And Gilmore missing, is that crucial, do you think? You're talking about control in the central midfield. Absolutely. I felt that was noticeable tonight. I thought before the game, maybe that wouldn't be a thing in this game, but I thought it was. I thought that was keenly felt. I think that was definitely a fair point. I joined Barca Jim texting me with a friend of the post, sheer panic as the game continued and just saying the Scottish commentators on the BBC are doing a great job of keeping us humble by reminding us every few minutes of our fuck-ups in previous tournaments.

12:38Ewan, how do they approach the next two games? I'm going to say that it is a step up, right? Morocco and Brazil, and it's hard to gauge. It's a different game, but do they park the bus? I mean that's the only way they can play those games right? Yeah on the upside that might suit Scotland it's completely different there's not this huge expectancy on them to go out there and win 2 or 3-0 from the likes of me that might suit them the expectancy is that Morocco and Brazil certainly will take the game to Scotland the expectancy is that they will win different attitudes, different kind of games and they've got that first game out of the way they've got the three points so maybe that's a difficult hurdle you know over now but I would be amazed having seen that I would be amazed if the two up front continues I think they need more composure And they need more control in midfield So I think there will be a tactical switch And listen, maybe this is the kind of game The kind of games that these teams can excel in Where just a different situation completely And maybe they just had to get this game out of the way But again, I'm coming back to it I can't get away from the sense That this was a bit of a missed opportunity That's going to cost them from the end of this group I hope I'm completely wrong As I often am But I can't get away from that saying We have no idea how the third place rank, assuming, of course, that Morocco and Brazil are going to respond to their results and be looking at their next two games and saying we need six points, each of us, right?

13:56We just don't really know what to expect from that table of third place teams, whether it's the cutoff or the goal difference. And frankly, things like momentum building into tournaments. We talk about trying to find the team that's in form as you get into the bracket. And if you have your win in the first one and then you have two tough results and suddenly you're the third place team facing a first place team in a different group, that's just such a difficult sort of way to just snap back into it and so i really wonder how curious that round will look overall the people who did modeling of these things thought might three points and minus two was certainly borderline that's kind of what i've been looking at in terms

14:28Max Rushden:of how you would do it anything worse than three points and minus one and you're on the precipice but we are presuming scotland are going to lose their next two games they might not they might not they might and actually you an expectation is so different like i don't think i've ever gone into a game with Scotland at a major tournament where people are saying you know they really need to put three or four past this lot, it's not a conversation I've ever really had before and I guess that filters down to the manager. Well we said it in the build up Max, they're wasting their goals in the warm up games.

14:58Against Bolivia or whoever. Eight goals, gone to waste So that'll change right, expectation changes everything. Absolutely, Steve Clarke is about to appear chap so I'm going to have to run You can't tell him you're doing Football Weekly does he want to come on, does it not work like that? probably not tonight no no that laugh was no max you idiot thanks thanks you and good man thank you thank you you and murray our scottish football cross one um i think that's a sort of fair summation i you know you first mentioned it after the game going i don't want to be barry buzzkill and i was like oh we should just be like scotland and one and this is amazing but yeah i am

15:29Max Rushden:aware people are probably going to have a goal for being down on scotland despite the fact that they won and they're top of the group but they need more goals in that game yeah and that's just a fact i i think i'm working on the presumptions that they're going to lose against morocco and brazil they might not but i think they will they certainly will if they play like that again and keep giving the ball away yeah as they did against haiti and this you know morocco and brazil are just different gravy to haiti and scotland i think christopher says uh another slight fact check for Barry on the pod, there are two ex-Oldham players in the Haiti.

16:08So that's not really a correction, that's just a sort of augmentation of your original fact, I would say. Johnny Placid, the Haitian Higuita, and Duckens Nason, who put two past David Rea in a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park in 2018. So there I was on David Rea's Wikipedia learning that he played for Blackburn for a bit. And Spencer asked quite a good question, we should have asked you and do bagpipes count as carry-on? which, because otherwise there are a lot of them just waiting at the carousel. It's sort of, it is a bag ostensibly. Do you have knowledge of this? But could it be a personal item? I suppose it depends on the size of the sack, doesn't it?

16:43Yeah, I mean it is a rucksack. It's a rucksack of sorts, doesn't it? Yeah, and producer Joel says, how do you identify your own bagpipes on the carousel? It's just a whole load of bagpipes.

16:54Max Rushden:I presume they all have individual tartan, don't they? That is true. And then a sparring, a sparring is also a bag. So does that count as... One of your two bags. One of your two bags. These are questions that we need to ask you after the next game. All right, that'll do for part one, part two. We'll do Brazil-Morocco.

17:13Hi, Podfans. Max here. Barry's here too. Hello. Football Weekly is supported by Hotels.com. Now, Barry, question. When you're booking a hotel, do you use Hotels.com? Actually, you're probably just going to say, I don't know. Producer Joel does it. I don't know. Producer Joel does it. Well, I think you should give it a try for yourself. Obviously, it's a massive summer of soccer and loads of our listeners will be travelling to watch the tournament and needing to book somewhere great to stay. So it's good to know that when you're a Hotels.com member, you can save up to 20 % on hundreds of thousands of hotels, plus you earn rewards on every stay, so each trip you take helps pay for your future trips.

17:45Just use those rewards like cash, and importantly, there are never any blackout dates. What's a blackout date? Well, it's a date where you can't use travel rewards, frustratingly usually on or around major holidays or other peak travel periods. but there are no blackout dates with Hotels.com rewards. Superb. Yes, so next time you're booking somewhere to stay, just book it at Hotels.com. Hotels.com, it's all in the name.

18:27housing. That's why this year we're only using Apple Cash. It's a super easy way to settle up because you can do it right in messages. Just tap the plus sign to get started. And the best part is you can spend the money you get right away anywhere Apple Pay is accepted. Every payment is secure and protected by Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode, and your transactions are never shared on a public feed. Set up your Apple Cash today in the Wallet app. Apple Cash services are provided by Green.Bank, member FDIC. Terms apply.

19:02Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Our live show is in September. 1st of September at Vicar Street in Dublin. 8th of September, Soho Theatre in Walthamstow. Go to theguardian.co.uk slash footballweeklylive. It's great if we sell out early, then I don't have to go on a relentless social media campaign to bore myself and everyone and lose thousands of followers. So Brazil won, Morocco won in New Jersey. And we touted this, Baris, kind of the first big game with big heavyweights in the tournament. And it kind of threatened to be a great game. The first half was really brilliant, I thought.

19:33But I don't know if it turned into that by the end.

19:36Max Rushden:I think it was very much a game of two halves. A very good half, the first half. And the second half, not much happened, really. I thought Morocco were the better team. I thought they should have won. They were certainly the better team in the first half, I think. and I say better team and Brazil were kind of overrun in midfield by Morocco I thought Bruno Gimres and Casemiro had a very poor first half Casemiro was taken off at half time he was on the booking and he wasn't playing well and Brazil needed a sort of moment of genius from Vinicius Junior to get back, equalise and And I would imagine both sides would be delighted with the point, but I think Morocco will probably think they should have won.

20:29Max Rushden:Yeah. You're on the minute by minute, Jeff, as we established more good minutes in the first half than the second. The goals were both brilliant. The Morocco goal, the pass from Brahim Diaz is brilliant, and the finish from Saibari, he made that look so easy. And you can really see what Morocco was going for with their kind of contentious coaching change that they made before the tournament, wanting to be a team that could be more than just sort of difficult, right? And actually be a team that could maybe control things. And you could see the way that they were trying to use with, it was really clever, I thought, at the start of the game, especially, I suppose, we'll say the first quarter before the hydration break, where...

21:01That is a phrase we're going to use now, isn't it? We have to. Unfortunately, yes. Commercial breaks and everything, right? Feels like it's your fault, Americans, I can see. It is. It literally is. It really is. It is. But cleverly, when you look at, you assume it's going to be the right side, right? Whether it's Brian Diaz or Afaf Hakimi. And to be operating up of the left, I think, kind of threw Brazil off. I don't think that they were really expecting that to be the area of emphasis. And they looked really overrun, I thought, over the first 10 minutes or so. And eventually it balanced itself out a little bit.

21:27But I don't know. There was just something about that Brazil performance that was just so timid. And I know that we talk so much going into these tournaments. And Fox certainly needs to find some new synonyms for sexy whenever they talk about Brazil, because I think that there was a hit where they said it about 10 times. They do say sexy a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. Terrible phrase for anything, I would suggest. Well, it's used in football quite a bit for some reason. But no, I agree. I mean, Brazil is just one of those teams that, you know, even when things aren't working out for them as they were today, you know, they still have players like Vinicius who can just take the ball and given not that big of a window, but a window nonetheless, just cut inside and rifle in the goal that he did.

22:06I want to just shout out the central midfield of Morocco. I thought they were really, really top class today. Both players, Ayub Bouadi, who is 18 and I believe making his competitive debut for Morocco, crazy, in the World Cup. He was really just controlling proceedings, keeping possession, making the right pass at the right time. And I thought Neil Al-Ainoui, sorry if I pronounce that wrong, was also really good. He had a really nice interception and several of them actually that led to chances. He was breaking up plays. He was really all over the place and enabled Morocco to build all the attacks that they did.

22:43And in addition to all the good work down the left side from Masrawi and Al-Khanous that you mentioned. I mean, the Vinicius Junior was very kind of this is the World Cup, just a Brazilian going, I'll just do something brilliant. That takes me back to, you know, 86, etc. I don't know. In the second half, is that because qualification in the group is different? like a draw isn't a bad result for these two teams Barry is it hydration breaks which which I you know they don't like make me furious but they do affect the flow of the game so much or or was it Ancelotti making those changes and shored up the midfield and it just got a bit I think

23:17Max Rushden:it could be a bit of all three and Ancelotti's changes certainly helped Brazil play as more of a unit I mean Casemiro was really bad in that first half and Bruno Gimeraas wasn't much better. Casemiro looked like he was pulling a caravan and he has had games like that for Manchester United as well. He occasionally does attach the caravan to his body. The hydration breaks, I don't like them, I have to say. I appreciate there is a need for them if it is extremely hot and humid. But, like, we had an incident in the Qatar-Switzerland game where there was a hydration break called just before a corner was about to be taken.