Scotland’s hopes of making the World Cup knockout stages for the first time in their history took a hit as Vinícius Júnior’s brace inspired Brazil to a 3-0 win at Miami Stadium.
The Real Madrid winger was gifted the opener by a disastrous mistake by Scott McKenna before his second was ruled out for a foul on his fellow defender Jack Hendrie, but headed home to double Brazil’s advantage on the stroke of half time.
Matheus Cunha slotted home number three on the hour mark to send the six-time winners through as Group C winners and put Scotland’s dreams of reaching the round of 32 as the third-placed team into serious doubt, by ending on -3 goal difference.
As it happened
Scotland’s game plan was out the window mere minutes in for the second game running when Scott McKenna – introduced in the place of Grant Hanley – gave the ball away inside his own penalty area with a risky pass out from the back.
Vinícius gobbled up the loose ball, ghosted past an off-guard Angus Gunn and slotted into an empty net to condemn Steve Clark’s men to the worst possible start to what was going to be an uphill battle from the offset.
The Tartan Army would then breathe a huge collective sigh of relief when VAR spotted contact from the Real Madrid superstar on the standing heel of Jack Hendrie, when he pinched the ball and slotted in number two with 20 minutes gone.
What was initially expected to be his fourth goal of the tournament was chalked off after a swift review.
Scotland did find a rare chance to level in the first half when John McGinn crossed into a horde of teammates who all contested for the same header inside the penalty area, and all missing the opportunity.
They survived a second scare when one of their defenders almost diverted a low ball across goal into his own net via a deflection off of the goalkeeper, who was left helpless when Vinícius headed in his second when Nathan Patterson dozed off at the back post.
It should have been three when Bournemouth winger Rayan beautifully controlled a ball over the top and find his way past Andy Robertson with ease, but Gunn made a brilliant one-on-one save to deny the 19-year-old a first World Cup goal.
Scott McTominay had the first real chance of the second half when half-time substitute Kieran Tierney – who raised eyebrows coming on to replce Robterson – picked him out with a decent cross, but the Napoli midfielder headed it straight at Alisson.
Gunn was called into action yet again with Vinícius on a hat-trick, racing into the penalty area and forcing the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper into a smart save with his feet as Scotland continued to live dangerously.
Cunha scored the third on the hour mark after Guimaraes was played through and outmuscled Kenny McLean, shifting the ball across to the Manchester United forward who made no mistake on the hour mark.
Gunn was in fine form despite that not ringing true for the defenders in front of him, making his fourth save of the evening on his mission to deny Vinícius a memorable World Cup hat-trick with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Neymar was greeted with a warm welcome by the Brazilian fans lining the stands upon his long-awaited return, featuring for the first time since suffering a serious injury in a 2-0 defeat to Uruguay in World Cup qualifying 368 days ago.
A consolation goal for Scotland would in fact have meant much more to their chances of making the round of 32, reducing their goal difference to -2, but McTominay put his shot straight at Alisson from no more than 10 yards out deep into added time.
Scotland will, at best, have to learn quickly from their mistakes to prepare for an historic first appearance in the World Cup knockout stages. At worst, their dreams of making such history just evaporated in a damaging 90 minutes of football in Miami.
More to follow.
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