Key events
6 min: It’s a great start for Scotland, Christie and Robertson in tandem, and then Adams gets a shot in, that Viscarra can only parry away.
Goal! Bolivia 0-1 Scotland (Shankland, 5)
Gannon-Doak seems to have licence to go forward while Ryan Christie is tucking in, with Scotland playing an old-style 4-4-2. And you know what, it’s working, as Robertson overlaps and loops a ball from Christie to the back post and Shankland heads in.
3 min: Andy Robertson, the skipper, runs to a flick from Shankland but then fouls the opposing defender. It looks hot, and Bolivia look comfortable in passing the ball around.
Away we go in Harrison
1 min: It’s not a packed stadium, and Scotland being in red feels unfamiliar. The kit resembles that of Chile, or a lower-ranked La Liga team. It’s Bolivia who set off at a rate, Villamíl to the fore. Gtant Hanley has to head clear.
Flower of Scotland rings out, the bagpipes made it through customs at JFK.
Tony Hughes gets in touch: “As a teenager a million years ago at Kirkcaldy High School, the euphoria of Mexico ‘86 was such that 8 of us in our Physics class held a sweepstakes, whereby each of us paid in two pounds and got 3 randomly assigned Scotland players, and whomever came out collectively with the most goals, for Scotland, got to keep all 16 pounds. And 22 doesn’t go into 8, so unfortunately we had to add Alex Ferguson and Craig Brown (along with the goalkeepers). Some of us were really unlucky. I got Graeme Sharp, Arthur Albiston and Maurice Malpas, none of whom scored, and obviously the kid that had Gordon Strachan won the lot.”
I completed Mexico 86, it was the last one I completed.
This stadium in Harrison, New Jersey is home to New York Red Bulls; I’ve been, back in 2010, it was a short train ride from the World Trade Center, and from memory, not a great deal around it. Looking up famous people from Harrison and the best I came up with is Tab Ramos. I saw Juan Pablo Angel playing for the Red Bulls, so there’s that.
Ben Gannon-Doak spoke to the BBC in New Jersey: ““I don’t really know until the game gets started, but I think me and the rest of the lads have had a good week to prepare in my opinion in harsher conditions down in Florida, so I think we’re more than equipped to go out and play the football that we want to play. [We want] a good result to go into this World Cup with confidence, to go and play well as a team, play some nice football and aye, just to go out there and enjoy myself. No one would have thought we would have been here.”
Last time out for Scotland, the win over Curacao, which proved costly for Billy Gilmour and an opportunity for Tyler Fletcher.
Of those Bolivian players, the striker, Paniagua, plays for Wydad Casablanca, and Terceros plays for Santos in Brazil. It’s a real mix of home-based players and emigres.
This is the first time Bolivia have met Scotland.
The Bolivia team: Viscarra, Rocha, Haquín, Morales, Fernández, Matheus, Vaca, Villamíl, Terceros, Ribera, Paniagua. Subs: Arroyo, Centella, Govea, Lampe, López, Macazaga, Melgar, Nacif, Tórrez, Viviani, Zabala
James Humphries gets in touch: “Not that I wish mini-Fletch any ill – his dad was, I think, one of the most underrated players of his generation – but whose chips has Lennon Miller pished on such that Tyler gets called up ahead of him?
“Played 25 games for udinese this season, several years of bossing games at senior level for a pretty ropey Well side, and he plays (or played) a fairly similar role to Gilmour, too. But, no, let’s call up the guy who’s had about half an hour of senior football. And folk say Steve Clarke doesn’t like taking risks, eh?”
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For Scotland, Angus Gunn is in goal, Lawrence Shankland, Andy Robertson, Aaron Hickey, Ben Gannon-Doak and Ryan Christie remain from last weekend’s game against Curacao. Though expect plenty of changes. Gunn, Grant Hanley, Jack Hendry, Lewis Ferguson, and Che Adams are the players coming in.
The Scotland team
Scotland: Gunn, Hickey, Robertson, McTominay, Hanley, Adams, Christie, Hendry, Gannon-Doak, Ferguson, Shankland. Subs: Kelly, Gordon, Tierney, McGinn, Fletcher, Dykes, Stewart, Souttar, Hyam, Hirst, Patterson, McLean, Ralston, Curtis, McKenna
Ewan also wrote our Scotland preview.
Clarke is pragmatic in approach but it will be a shock if he does not start with two strikers for game one against Haiti. Victory there and Scotland have a genuine chance of progression from the first round for the first time. There is also a lingering reason for Clarke to at least appear bold; he was castigated by supporters for negative tactics in a must-win match against Hungary at the last Euros.
A more defensive style is likely and understandable against Morocco and Brazil, who simply put are better teams than Scotland. Clarke’s team can be useful in such a situation; they are excellently drilled and carry a counterattacking threat.
Ewan Murray is following Scotland at the World Cup, and he will be reporting on this game from New Jersey. All eyes are on Haiti.
Clarke insists he cannot alter plans on account of potential fitness setbacks.
“Do you want to wrap them in cotton wool and [they] don’t train?” Clarke asked. “You need to work. Injuries are part and parcel of football. When it happens, especially when it happens in the circumstances it happened to Billy, it is really disappointing. Everybody has got to take a deep breath and move forward again. That is what we will do.”
Preamble
Harrison, New Jersey hosts this warm-up for Steve Clarke’s Scotland. Expect to see plenty of substitutions, and hope for no more injuries after Billy Gilmour was ruled out last week. This is the final match before Haiti, a week from now, a chance to acclimatise, and get used to the conditions. Bolivia are not one of the 48 finalists, having lost to Iraq in the intercontinental playoffs; they were last at a final in 1994, and it’s been a long time since Erwin “Platini” Sanchez and Marco Etcheverry, the latter a legend of MLS lore. Scotland are back at the World Cup for the first time since 1998, and this is the last step before Haiti.
Kick-off is 9pm Scotland time/4pm Eastern time
