Why Scotland can't play for draw or narrow defeat against Brazil

Captain Andy Robertson will lead Scotland out against Brazil on Wednesday

24/06/2026 at 23:00 BST

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When Scotland take on the famous yellow shirts of Brazil in Miami. they will know a draw is enough to reach the knockout stage of the World Cup.

Even a narrow loss may well see them through to the last 32 as one of eight best third-place sides.

Scotland fans' new obsession isthe table of third-placed teams in the World Cupas everyone tries to work out what exactly would take the national side through for the first time ever.

Head coach Steve Clarke. the players will be asked about their approach given that context, but how easy is it to play simply not to lose?

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You can probably scrape through the history of football. struggle to find any coach or player say they will go out to aim for anything but a win.

Those involved with Scotland will do the same in their pre-match media this week -. you can bet your house on it being true.

But, with all the noise and talk outside the camp, might there be a subconscious effect?

As former Scotland player. manager Craig Levein told BBC Scotland: "I don't believe Steve will be playing for a draw because there's a dangerous element to that.

"Because you're in a mode where if you do lose a goal then getting shifted out of. mind space is difficult. I've been in that situation on a number of occasions.

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"One of them was the Czech Republic game. the 4-6-0 [in 2010], where a draw would have been a really good result. The game wasn't great and neither team threatened, but we lost the goal to a set-piece.

"So you can plan all you want to play for a certain outcome,. football is so random that you're not guaranteed to get that."

Levein believes Clarke's demeanour. approach to training, the gameplan and team selection will be more influential in the players' mindset than outside talk of only needing a point.

The inclusion of winger Ben Gannon-Doak. for example, may send a message Scotland are going to be more aggressive going forward.

"You get a feel as a manager where the players are," Levein said.

"You're looking at it. you're thinking: maybe if we just put another attacking player on, it gives everybody the idea that it's time to take the shackles off and have a go."

So. rather than Scotland's mentality being affected by their desired outcome, is a cautious gameplan - even when trying to win every game - more of an issue?

Against Haiti, Clarke's side had only 46% of the ball - and that dropped to 40% against Morocco. Scotland have managed just two shots on target so far.

Defensively. they have not often pressed the opposition fiercely, with Scotland taking an average of 25 seconds to recover possession against Morocco, who on average won the ball eight seconds faster.

Former Hibernian. Celtic midfielder Scott Allan told the: "When you're constantly sat off the game and you're passive, players go into a certain mindset where they start to worry, instead of having that real belief about going and creating and scoring goals.

"You can sit in a low block and still be aggressive. There's a point where once they [the opposition] reach here, when they make a square pass, can we go with real purpose. go and try and get the ball back?"

Scotland (black) struggled to get players forward against Morocco, as this map of their average positions shows

Former Rangers. Motherwell midfielder Andy Halliday agrees that Scotland need to find more urgency when defending as a team against Brazil.

"When you're going to be this team that wants to sit in. frustrate then try and be as quick as you can on transitions," he said. "I think we need to be a lot more aggressive than we've been off the ball.

"I think every chance we created actually came from us putting pressure on Moroccan players. turning the ball over at the top end of the pitch.

"I'm not expecting a huge difference in possession [against Brazil], but I think, out of possession, we can't just allow these top players time. space on the ball and make it easy for them to just feel their way into the game."

Kenny Macintyre is joined by Andy Halliday. Scott Allan to ask the big questions after Scotland’s narrow defeat to Morocco. What really went wrong in that performance, and were the tactics too passive?

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**Author: Scottish Football Podcast**