Foxborough (Massachusetts) [US], June 20 (ANI): Scotland manager Steve Clarke has backed his side to bounce back from their disappointing 0-1 loss to Morocco and approach their decisive FIFA World Cup Group C clash against Brazil with renewed confidence.
Scotland suffered a defeat on Friday as Morocco secured a narrow victory in Massachusetts, leaving Clarke’s men with three points from two matches. The Scots had opened their campaign with a historic 1-0 win over Haiti — their first World Cup victory in 36 years — but were unable to build on that success against the North Africans.
With five-time world champions Brazil awaiting in their final group-stage fixture, Scotland still have a chance of progressing. The top two teams in each group qualify automatically for the Round of 32, along with the eight best third-placed teams.
“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 told reporters after the match, according to Reuters.
“So we’ll rest, recover and be ready to go again. The games don’t get much easier,” he said.
Morocco made a dream start, taking the lead after just 71 seconds through Ismael Saibari, the second-fastest goal scored at this year’s tournament. The 2022 World Cup semi-finalists controlled much of the contest despite only winning by a single goal.
Clarke praised his team’s response after the early setback, highlighting their resilience against quality opposition.
“I thought we picked ourselves up in the first half, to be fair,” Clarke said.
“Maybe it took us 10 minutes to get into the game, because obviously, you’ve got a setback like that. It’s really difficult to respond. Weaker teams would have crumbled, I think, against that quality of opposition, but we dug in,” he said.
“We got ourselves back in the game. We started moving the ball about a little bit better, and I thought the second period of the first half, after the hydration break, we were good. We had good momentum going into halftime, and we carried that into the second half, and we had a right go. Proud of the players, but obviously we’re all devastated and disappointed that we didn’t get the result that we wanted, so that we can carry on in this tournament as long as we can,” he added.
Scotland also felt aggrieved by two second-half penalty appeals involving midfielders John McGinn and Scott McTominay, although Clarke stopped short of heavily criticising the officiating.
“McGinn one is the 50-50. Some will give it, and I think if the referee gives it to VAR, it doesn’t overturn it. So, I can only speak on that one…,” he said.
“But listen, there’s nothing we can do about that,” Clarke concluded.
The defeat leaves Scotland facing a stern test against Brazil, but Clarke remains confident his players can recover quickly and produce another strong performance when qualification hopes go on the line in their final group match. (ANI)
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