Key events<\/p>\n
Pre-match postbag of optimism (sort of). \u201cI thought I\u2019d made my peace with going out in the group stages, but as kickoff approaches and the distinct jangling nerves of The Fear start gripping, it turns out that I was wrong (again). Oh god, please don\u2019t let us get skelped. If we somehow sneak a point though, I\u2019m going on a two-day bender; I can call the first pint tomorrow the hair of Ally MacLeod\u2019s dog. Wait a minute! I can do that either way!\u201d \u2013 James Humphries<\/p>\n
\u201cBrazil ain\u2019t all that, Scott. But then neither are Scotland<\/a>. I think a draw is a distinct possibility. Four points would mean almost certain qualification, and the chance for players and fans to celebrate together at full time, which would be quite the sight. Whatever happens, I think alcohol will be taken, and grown men will cry. And I\u2019ll probably sleep through most of it, as it\u2019s still roasting here and I\u2019ve been on the whisky since teatime. Oh, and while we\u2019re on the subject of the toe-poke, Dave Narey turned 70 just over a week ago, while there\u2019s two former Dundee United men in the starting XI today, and another two on the bench, so if that doesn\u2019t guarantee heartbreak I don\u2019t know what will. But come on Scotland!!!\u201d \u2013 Simon McMahon<\/p>\n \u201cTrue story. After Scotland\u2019s heroic draw with world champions in 1974, Rivellino approached Billy Bremner in the tunnel full of admiration exclaiming \u2018Bremner Primo!! Bremner Primo!!\u2019 In reply Bremner grabbed him by the shirt and in the spirit of these great occasions screamed \u2018Who the #### are you to call me a Primo?!!\u2019 Happy days\u201d \u2013 Tom Kenny<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Steve Clarke talks to the BBC. \u201cI\u2019ve got to make the choices \u2026 sometimes you start a little bit more conservative \u2026 sometimes a little bit more positive \u2026 I\u2019ve said to the boys on the bench, I\u2019m sure five of them will have a massive outcome on the result \u2026 the players know that I believe in them \u2026 they\u2019ve been fantastic for me \u2026 fantastic for their country \u2026 tonight\u2019s a chance to make a little bit of history \u2026 why not start on the front foot and see what we can do \u2026 playing Brazil at a World Cup<\/a>, it doesn\u2019t come any bigger, it doesn\u2019t come any better \u2026 we\u2019ve prepared \u2026 hopefully you see that on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Kit and Pennant Watch. The Scots are keeping things simple and classy. Andrew Robertson will hand over a gift of the darkest blue (blue sky<\/a>) \u2026<\/p>\n Pennant Watch rating: 10\/10. Photograph: Carmen Mandato\/FIFA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u2026 while his opposite number Marquinhos will offer a more wordy but equally cultured trinket. Twice as much plush tasseling by the looks of it. Fair enough. They are Brazil<\/a>, after all.<\/p>\n Pennant Watch rating: 11\/10, a bonus point for winning the thing five times. Photograph: Carmen Mandato\/FIFA\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n So anyway, that toe-poke. The toe-poke. The toe-poke to end all toe-pokes. Here\u2019s Steven Pye on the second most iconic goal in Scotland\u2019s World Cup<\/a> finals history.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.24 EDT<\/p>\n Billy Gilmour, whose dreams were shattered a week before the World Cup<\/a>, has come along for the ride anyway, and speaks pitchside to the BBC. \u201cThe boys are looking really up for it \u2026 it doesn\u2019t get any better playing Brazil \u2026 we\u2019ve had two great games \u2026 confidence \u2026 be aggressive \u2026 we\u2019ve got a great starting line-up tonight \u2026 a great bench also \u2026 hopefully tonight it\u2019s a good one and Scotland get what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The BBC have flashed up a graphic of Scotland\u2019s chances of reaching the knockout stage. It shows that if they win tonight, they\u2019re 100 percent sure of getting through. A draw puts them on 99.99%. A defeat by one goal still gives them an 84.7% chance, while a two-goal loss drops the number down to 66.8%. All fairly promising, but then diminishing returns set in: a three-goal loss reduces the chance of progress to 49.2%, a four-goal defeat and it\u2019s 38.7%, a five-goal stuffing and it\u2019s just 31.3% and \u2026 well, if it gets much worse it\u2019d probably be for the best to pack up and pop back over the briny. But there\u2019s a big reminder that all hope is not lost should things go awry tonight.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The first setback for Scotland<\/a> tonight comes early. Bosnia and Herzegovina have already seen off Italy in the qualifiers, and now they\u2019ve done for Qatar in Group B with a 3-1 win. Bosnia and Herzegovina therefore finish third in the group, and their four-point haul means one less potential lifeline for Scotland, who have three points in Group C, should they lose tonight.<\/p>\n 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina 4pts (5-6) -1GD (three games played) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Neymar \u2013 who gave everyone a big thumbs-up as he disembarked from the Brazil<\/a> team bus \u2013 doesn\u2019t start. But Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that he is \u201cavailable\u201d to come on. There\u2019s one change from the 3-0 win over Haiti: the injured Raphinha is replaced by Rayan \u2026 another young Bournemouth star! Quite the evening for the Cherries. He\u2019s one of several present or former Premier League players in the Brazil starting line-up tonight: Alisson (Liverpool), Gabriel (Arsenal), Bruno Guimar\u00e3es (Newcastle), Casemiro and Matheus Cunha (Manchester United), and Danilo (once of Manchester City) are all present and correct.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n As earlier reported by Ewan Murray, the exciting young Bournemouth winger Ben Gannon-Doak starts for Scotland. There\u2019s a first start in this World Cup<\/a> up front for Lawrence Shankland, Scott McKenna is named in the centre of defence, and Kenny McLean comes into the midfield. Grant Hanley, Kieran Tierney, Ryan Christie and Ch\u00e9 Adams are the players replaced. A more adventurous, front-foot selection by Steve Clarke than many were expecting.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The teams<\/p>\n Scotland: Gunn, Patterson, McKenna, Hendry, Robertson, Doak, McLean, Ferguson, McGinn, McTominay, Shankland. Brazil: Alisson, Danilo, Marquinhos, Gabriel, Douglas Santos, Guimaraes, Casemiro, Lucas Paqueta, Rayan, Cunha, Vinicius Junior. Referee: Cesar Arturo Ramos Palazuelos (Mexico).<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.53 EDT<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the greatest iteration of the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o, and the mood back home reflects that. Think Elis Regina\u2019s version<\/a> of Aquarela do Brasil as opposed to Tom Jobim\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Paul MacInnes is also in Miami. He\u2019s been mingling with the Tartan Army, and here\u2019s his report on an all-new American pastime: no Scotsmaxxing, no party!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A reminder of Fifa\u2019s weather protocol. If thunder rumbles and lightning strikes within an eight-mile radius of Miami Stadium, the players will be sent to their dressing rooms, and a 30-minute countdown will begin. Should no other strike be detected during it, the teams will come back out for a 15-minute warm-up after which the game will restart. But if there\u2019s another strike during the countdown, the 30-minute clock resets. And if there\u2019s another \u2026 etc., and so on, and so forth. We\u2019ve been here before, with play between France and Iraq suspended for two hours a couple of evenings ago, so it could be a long night.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Ewan Murray is at the Hard Rock Stadium (rebadged Miami Stadium under the yoke of Fifa and formerly known as Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Land Shark Stadium, and Sun Life Stadium). Here\u2019s his up-to-the-minute dispatch, which may well not be his last this evening, if what he\u2019s saying about the weather comes to pass.<\/p>\n double quotation markI just shared a lift at Miami Stadium with Denilson. He has particularly small feet.<\/p>\n On matters less personal… black clouds are not far in the distance, raising the possibility of a storm delay at some point in this game. Scotland hope the weather is the only threat to their hopes for a smooth evening. Wishful thinking, I fear.<\/p>\n Expect Ben Gannon-Doak to return to the Scotland team. Raphinha misses out for Brazil, with the key intrigue surrounding whether or not Carlo Ancelotti deploys Neymar from the start.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Scotland\u2019s record against Brazil is not good \u2013 P10, W0, D2, L8 \u2013 and yet despite what those bare numbers seem to say, it\u2019s not exactly that bad, either. The countries first met in a Hampden friendly just before the 1966 World Cup: with less than a minute on the clock, Jim Baxter\u2019s cute pass found Stevie Chalmers, who flicked gracefully into the top left. Servilio equalised soon after, but Billy Bremner marked Pel\u00e9 out of the game, while Baxter ran the show against the still-reigning world champions. \u201cBaxter frequently had the Brazilians bemused as he spread the play or cleverly sent them the wrong way with a body swerve,\u201d reported this newspaper. \u201cScotland captured almost everything but the victory their play so richly deserved.\u201d Ol\u00e9 Ola!<\/a><\/p>\n The countries first competitive match ended in a draw as well. The aforementioned Bremner missed from a couple of yards at the 1974 World Cup<\/a>, the game ended goalless, and it\u2019s not exactly a spoiler to say the Scots went out at the group stage, albeit undefeated. Since then, there have been three more meetings on the biggest stage, and Brazil have won them all. Scotland were genuinely unfortunate in 1990 (Jim Leighton\u2019s late fumble that allowed M\u00fcller to score, Claudio Taffarel\u2019s last-ditch point-bank save from Mo Johnston) and 1998 (Tom Boyd\u2019s excruciating own-goal ricochet) though the 4-1 defeat in Seville in 1982, the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o in full sexy samba soccer mode, was a proper gubbing. And even then \u2026<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Toe-poke? All together now \u2026 \u266a \u266b \u266c \u201c We hate Jimmy Hill \u2026\u201d \u266a \u266b \u266c<\/p>\n All of which possibly tempts fate tonight. This may not be the best crop of talent Brazil have brought to a World Cup<\/a>, but they\u2019ve still got Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior, Matheus Cunha, Rayan and Neymar. They\u2019re still Brazil. Scotland meanwhile need Scott McTominay and John McGinn to finally spark into life if there\u2019s to be any hope of a surprise. But then hope is a nebulous concept tonight, because Scotland don\u2019t need to win; they don\u2019t even necessarily need the draw that would almost guarantee making it to the knockouts for the first time in their history; and they could even get through after another Seville-style shellacking, should results in the other 11 groups go their way. So fingers crossed a point at least is coming down the road for Steve Clark and his brave boys \u2026 but let\u2019s remember all will not yet be lost, whatever happens tonight.* Kick-off is at 11pm BST. It\u2019s on!<\/p>\n * Catastrophising too much? I can\u2019t help it. It comes with the territory.<\/a><\/p>\n
2 Sweden 3pts (6-6) 0GD (two games played)
3 Scotland 3pts (1-1) 0GD (two games)
4 Croatia 3pts (3-4) -1GD (two games)
5 Algeria 3pts (2-4) -2GD (two games) Team conduct -1
6 Paraguay 3pts (2-4) -2GD (two games) Team conduct -11
7 Cape Verde 2pts (2-2) 0GD (two games)
8 Belgium 2pts (1-1) 0GD (two games)
————-
9 Czechia 1pt (2-3) -1GD (two games)
10 DR Congo 1pt (1-2) -1GD (two games)
11 Ecuador 1pt (0-1) -1GD (two games)
12 Senegal 0pt (3-6) -3GD (two games)<\/p>\n
Subs: Kelly, Gordon, Hickey, Hanley, Tierney, Fletcher, Dykes, Adams, Christie, Stewart, Souttar, Hyam, Hirst, Ralston, Curtis.<\/p>\n
Subs: Weverton, Ederson, Alex Sandro, Bremer, Leo Pereira, Ibanez, Ederson Silva, Fabinho, dos Santos Danilo, Neymar, Endrick, Luiz Henrique, Martinelli, Thiago.<\/p>\n