{"id":653112,"date":"2026-06-23T00:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/653112\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T00:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:41:11","slug":"ben-gannon-doak-to-be-unleashed-against-brazil-but-key-scotland-star-ruled-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/653112\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Gannon Doak to be unleashed against Brazil but key Scotland star ruled out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Clarke’s men will face Brazil in a bucket-list Group C finale in Miami on Wednesday night<\/p>\n

22:30, 22 Jun 2026Updated 23:19, 22 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

Steve Clarke is ready to unleash Ben Gannon-Doak against Brazil here in Miami on Wednesday night as Scotland<\/a> fight for their World Cup lives, writes Keith Jackson in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

Record Sport understands the Bournemouth winner will get the nod to return to Clarke\u2019s<\/a> starting XI after sitting on the bench for the first out of the 1-0 defeat against Morocco on Friday night in Foxborough.<\/p>\n

We can also reveal that Brentford full-back Aaron Hickey<\/a> will not be passed fit for the Group C blockbuster but should be given the all clear to run to action if Clarke\u2019s side does make it through to the knock-out stages.<\/p>\n

Clarke was going through the final preparations back in Charlotte yesterday morning before the team flew south to Florida later on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

And he seems certain to stick with a back four formation, with Doak given licence to take the game to the South American\u2019s down Scotland\u2019s right flank.<\/p>\n

That means Clarke will ditch the more defensive game plan which was rolled out against Morocco<\/a>, when the manager deployed Kieran Tierney on the left flank of his midfield, ahead of fellow left back Andy Robertson.<\/p>\n

Clarke has yet to confirm his intentions, but when asked about Gannon-Doak\u2019s potential game-changing talent, he said: \u201cI know, I get questions all the time about Ben Gannon-Doak.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, he\u2019s a player who can bring us something different. But my job as head coach is to make sure I use him and utilise him at the right time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t always necessarily need to be from the start, but I\u2019m not scared to start anybody if I think he can make the team better.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood Clarke and his medical team had serious reservations about asking Gannon-Doak to start two games in quick succession, after playing him in the opener against Haiti.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old missed six months of last season after damaging a hamstring during the 4-2 win over Denmark which clinched Scotland\u2019s place in the States.<\/p>\n

And Clarke didn\u2019t want to put the youngster at risk all over again by overusing him in the first three Group C games.<\/p>\n

But Gannon-Doak has now been primed to return to action in the bucket-lister of a game which could see Clarke and his player secure a passage into the last 32 as well as a place in history.<\/p>\n

The manager is also relaxed about the condition of talisman Scott McTominay despite the Napoli man failing to get fully up to speed in the opening two games.<\/p>\n

Clarke said: \u201cScott is fine. It\u2019s a very, very British thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou put people on the pedestal then you you chop them down. I have got no idea why.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has done everything he’s been asked to do in the games, he has tried as hard as he can.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn’t had the inference on the game, but he hit the post against Curacao, he had the shots against Bolivia and he looks a goal threat going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he continues to do that going into game three or game four, then hopefully he will end up getting the headlines that he deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Clarke’s men will face Brazil in a bucket-list Group C finale in Miami on Wednesday night 22:30,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[219549,59,2818,101,58034,56,54,55,6526,58033],"class_list":["post-653112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ben-gannon-doak","tag-gb","tag-scotland-football-team","tag-sports","tag-steve-clarke","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}