Kris Boyd says Scotland cannot concede another early goal when they meet Brazil in their final Group C match at the World Cup on Wednesday after going behind after 70 seconds against Morocco.
Steve Clarke made a number of changes to his starting line-up with the hope of frustrating their highly-fancied opponents on Friday night but were undone by an Ismail Saibari strike just two minutes which proved to be the winner.
A victory would have seen Scotland qualify from the group stages for the first time in a major tournament, but they still have a fair chance of making the last 32, either by beating Brazil or by finishing as one of the best third-placed teams.
Scotland’s Grant Hanley in action against Morocco
However, that could rely on goal difference and Boyd says Scotland cannot afford another slow start against the five-time world champions in Miami.
“I think it will be more of the same as we saw against Morocco, but you have to empathise the point – do not concede an early goal because all of a sudden then everything changes,” Sky Sports pundit Boyd said.
“Brazil are in a fantastic position themselves now after thrashing Haiti, so they will be through. It will be difficult for Scotland.
“Brazil might not have the superstars they had in previous years, but they have still got top players there who can cause you problems – we see it every week with their club teams.
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Luke Shanley gives his verdict on Scotland’s 1-0 defeat to Morocco in their second game of the World Cup.
“Scotland need to be switched on and must not concede an early goal. They have to play their way into the game then, all of a sudden, they can feel as though they are part of the match.
“If you go back to the Morocco game, I just felt as though Scotland lacked that belief that they should have been on the same pitch as Morocco for large parts of that first half.”
Clarke: The games don’t get much easier
Steve Clarke says Scotland’s players will “suffer” the disappointment of their loss to Morocco before getting ready for Brazil next week.
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Scotland head coach Steve Clarke reacts to their World Cup defeat to Morocco.
The Scotland boss was proud of his players’ efforts against Morocco but says he has to give them time to get over that defeat before looking for the result that could guarantee a place in the knockout stages.
“Yeah, of course (plenty of confidence), but first of all you have to let the players suffer a little bit over the next 48 hours because that’s what they’ll do, they don’t like losing against anybody,” Clarke said.
“So we’ll rest, recover and ready to go again. The games don’t get much easier though, eh?
“I thought we picked ourselves up, first half, to be fair. Maybe we took 10 minutes to get in it again because obviously when you get a setback like that, it is really difficult to respond.
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Opta give Scotland a 73.57% chance of qualifying as they currently top the third place ranking at the World Cup.
“Weaker teams would have crumbled against that quality of opposition but we dug in, we got ourselves back in the game, started moving the ball about a little bit better.
“I thought second period of the first half after the hydration break, we were good in the game, we had a good momentum going into half-time and we carried that into the second half. We had a right go.
“Proud of the players, but obviously we’re all devastated and disappointed that we didn’t get the result we wanted so that we can carry on in this competition as long as we can.”
