The team’s star was the best player in the Italian championship and was two places behind Vinicius Junior in the traditional awards from France Football magazine.
December 5
2025
– 6:16 pm
(Updated at 6:16 p.m.)
Back to the fight for a World Cup After 28 years, Scotland He will face two opponents he faced in 1998 in France, where he last participated in the World Cup: Morocco and Brazil. Unlike the fight that took place decades ago, in which they faced the Brazilian team in the opening round, the confrontation this time will be in the final match of the group stage.
To return to the World Cup, the Scots were leaders in Group C of the European qualifiers with 13 points, four wins, one draw and one defeat. The only defeat was against Greece 3-2 in Piraeus. The other two teams in the group were Denmark, which played in the last two World Cups, and Belarus.
A nation of football fanatics, as evidenced by the rivalry based on religious and political tensions between Celtic and Rangers, Scotland has never achieved prominence in terms of its obsession, but it has produced legends of the sport such as Kenny Dalglish, Dennis Law and Alex Ferguson.
Today, there are important players on the European scene. The main name, at the moment, is midfielder Scott McTominay, winner of the Italian Championship Player of the Year award for the 2024/2025 season, given his importance in winning the title with Napoli. He scored 13 goals and provided four assists in 36 matches.
McTominay came in 19th place in the traditional awards Golden Ball This year, he is only two places behind Brazilian Vinicius Junior, who was 17th. After becoming an Italian champion, he was also in the news for his behavior off the pitch, where he was photographed smoking a cigarette while celebrating the achievement.
Another important member of the Scottish group is left-back Andy Robertson, coming from Liverpool, a club that is not going through a great phase this season. Midfielder John McGinn, from Aston Villa, and full-back Aaron Hickey, from Brentford, also have some leadership roles in England.
The hard-working Scottish team is led by coach Steve Clarke, the former Scottish right-back who is considered one of the greatest players in the history of Chelsea, the club where he is the ninth athlete to have played the most matches. After his retirement, he was assistant coach to Jose Mourinho at the London club.
He worked briefly at Liverpool, where he assisted Kenny Dalglish as coach, before making his managerial debut at West Bromwich in 2012. In England he continued working at Reading, then returned to Scotland, where he coached Kilmarnock, his final job before taking over as Scotland coach.
Scotland and Brazil have already met in four World Cups
In 2026, the showdown between the Scots and the Brazilians will be the fifth episode of the World Cup finals. In addition to Brazil’s 2-1 victory in 1998, with goals from Cesar Sampaio and Boyd, the two teams have faced each other three other times in the world’s premier football tournament.
All matches were in the group stage and ended with Brazil’s victory. In a team that included Romário and Careca among the regulars, Müller came on as a substitute to score the winning goal in a 1-0 win in 1990.
Eight years ago, in a shock World Cup qualifier against Italy in 1982, Brazil beat Scotland 4-1, with goals from Zekos, Oscar, Eder and Falcao. In 1974, a team of stars like Rivelino and Jarzinho would not emerge from a goalless draw with the UK national team.