{"id":729625,"date":"2026-06-27T17:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729625\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:57:10","slug":"world-cup-2026-where-does-scotland-campaign-leave-steve-clarke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729625\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Where does Scotland campaign leave Steve Clarke?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Over the three games you’re definitely looking at below-par performances,” said Willie Miller, who played at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups for Scotland.<\/p>\n

“I keep looking back on the Denmark game [November’s 4-2 win to seal qualification] with those outstanding goals, but they didn’t get anywhere near those levels.”<\/p>\n

The former defender described the lack of a top-class striker as “a major issue” and said he was “uncertain about the logic of a few selections”.<\/p>\n

However, he did back Clarke by adding: “He got us there and that’s what the Scotland manager’s job is.<\/p>\n

“He has introduced a real togetherness in the squad as well, which wasn’t always the case.”<\/p>\n

With 81 matches under his belt, Clarke is Scotland’s longest-serving manager.<\/p>\n

Support from the Scottish FA has been emphatic, with their coffers significantly enhanced by participation at three of the past four major finals.<\/p>\n

Euro 2028 will be staged in Scotland, England, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland and it will be difficult for the co-hosts not to qualify.<\/a><\/p>\n

“I’m sure he can go again over the next few years if he wants to,” Miller added of Clarke.<\/p>\n

“The new contract was a positive step. I think it was the right thing to do.”<\/p>\n

Scotland conceded soft, early goals in defeats by Morocco and Brazil, with former striker James McFadden saying: “The defending was certainly below the standard we’re used to and the errors were costly.<\/p>\n

“I just feel the players could have shown more. We could have done better against Morocco in terms of having a go.<\/p>\n

“But a lot of people think we should have had two penalties and a red card in that game, which is nothing to do with the manager and players.<\/p>\n

“Against Brazil, we gave them two gifts.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Over the three games you’re definitely looking at below-par performances,” said Willie Miller, who played at the 1982…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-729625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}