Scotland 1-0 Haiti: Scots top Group C after claiming their first World Cup win in 36 years thanks to John McGinn’s deflected first-half strike… it was ugly and laboured but they won’t care

It took 28 minutes for Scotland to turn their reunion into a celebration after a 28-year wait. So who better to get the World Cup party started than a ‘pub player’?

We should say something at the start about John McGinn’s winning goal in the Group C fixture. It was a dirty place. It was ugly. It was a chaotic draft of deviations.

But it was beautiful. And it made sense. And it was cathartically perfect for all it meant, both for a nation deprived of this stage since 1998 and for a man who had been subjected to a rather crude over-the-top exaggeration from Roy Keane in recent days.

In fairness to Keane, he was talking about McGinn’s bad days. But today was not the day to talk about Keane’s bad approaches. It was a day for Scots and their kilt-clad masses, who spent a week in Boston drinking everything but tea.

They were deliriously happy when McGinn’s strike completed its risky journey into the Haitian goal, and even happier when the subsequent stresses ended at the final whistle. Steve Clarke has his fists clenched and may as well because Scotland are currently top of the group but relief will be his overriding emotion.

So let’s get to the most annoying part. The part where we compare the performance with the fact that Scotland will soon have to face Morocco and Brazil and will need to play much, much better to have a chance.

McGinn’s shot luckily went towards the Haiti goal, but Scotland don’t care

Scotland fans celebrate in the stands after seeing the national team’s first World Cup win since 1990

Because honestly it wasn’t that hot in here. They worked to take the lead, they worked to keep it, and they worked to get to the line. This is all a tribute to Haiti; A team that came together in the chaotic environment within the country fought brilliantly. They probably could have picked up a point with a better finish.

But these are assumptions that matter little in a short-form league table. All that mattered was winning and there had been no such win for Scotland at the World Cup since 1990 and none in their last two trips to the European Championship. As for McGinn, it was his first goal since Craig Burley scored 10,255 days ago against Norway in 1998.

Scotland has climbed from under such a heavy history. Let the fans enjoy this game and leave it to Clarke to see if this lead in the second half can heal the nerves that are clearly affecting his team. He doesn’t have much time on that front as he is in Morocco next Friday.

But he has a great position to develop, and even if the next two games are lost, he is in a position to most likely secure a passage to the knockouts. Of course, this is the nonsense of this bloated format, but take breaks where you can.

Knowing what was at stake with even a single victory, Clarke adopted an aggressive stance for the task at hand. He maintained the 4-4-2 form with which his team beat Bolivia in the final warm-up, retaining all but one of the components McGinn favored over Ryan Christie. For his biggest theoretical dilemma, Clarke chose Jack Hendry over John Souttar as Grant Hanley’s centre-half partner. There’s no controversy there and no surprises.

As for the opposition, there were names superficially familiar with UK interests: one of them was Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor, the other was Wolves winger Jean-Ricner Bellegarde. There were more than 100 Premier League games between these two, so let’s abandon the temptation to paint Haiti as a collection of stragglers.

Still, we know their stories are remarkable. It is both remarkable, heartening and sad. This has more to do with the harsh conditions of Sebastien Migne’s work as manager than it does with the long wait to get past this stage, which has set Scotland back by a full 24 years.

By now you may know that the Frenchman has never set foot in Haiti and only one member of his squad – Woodensky Pierre – plays in the local league. The rest are leagues spanning 15 countries, with a significant portion made up of the diaspora of a nation whose government long ago lost control. Gangs are running Haiti now, and it really is a humanitarian crisis, so it’s really nice to have them here.

Steve Clarke’s team struggled to claim victory against a fast-paced, physical Haiti team

McGinn came closest to doubling Scotland’s lead but shot wide of the post in the second half

But this way of thinking also has a risk. It’s something that can fit too much into the context of a team and detract from its sporting values, because Haiti is doing well in the latter. Let’s not forget that they did a much better job than England in the last fortnight, beating New Zealand 4-0. They can play. They play fast and physically.

For Scotland, these features caused recurring problems. FC Dallas’ Louicius Deedson occasionally posed a threat to Andy Robertson, sometimes with his direct running down the right wing and his elbows as well. The same was true for Ruben Providence on the left; He was regularly reaching the gaps behind Aaron Hickey and delivering tough deliveries like Deedson. It also left some bruises.

However, Scotland were the better side in the first half. Initially, Scott McTominay was at the forefront; A header from Robertson’s cross went over the bar and a later drive cleared the post. He lost control of midfield as the game progressed but benefited from the presence of Lewis Ferguson in the center and Ben Gannon-Doak on the right wing; The 20-year-old actor was excellent. The World Cup always carries the potential to expand profiles and Gannon-Doak’s first sign was impressive. Scotland have huge growth potential if McTominay can find effective ways to free himself up at full-back.

The most concrete contribution to the here and now came, of course, from McGinn. The ending benefited from multiple twists but who cares? The artistic merit was revealed early in the move, with Che Adams cushioning Hanley’s long ball as if his shoe had been wrapped in a pillow, before spreading play to Ben Gannon-Doak. He sent the ball low and hard into the middle, Adams’ shot was smothered and the rebound fell to McGinn. Tabs did the rest.

Frantzdy Pierrot narrowly headed for Haiti in the closing stages as Scotland resisted

For Scotland this was enough for a lead but not comfort. A chance came early in the second half; Robertson, a familiar source, lobbed a poor ball in behind the Haiti defense and headed into the path of Lawrence Shankland. Even though the striker was 1 meter away from scoring, the shot was outstanding; Tottenham need not worry about any technical setbacks from their new left-back.

From there, not much to raise pulses followed as the game headed into the second drinks break (here, as at Gilette Stadium, a commercialized, absurdist invention brought about by a 370-foot-wide screen announcing its sponsorship by Powerade). But the reboot brought drama; McGinn shot first from distance and Isidor weakly called for a penalty before coming close to scoring the equalizer at the other end.

The danger was clear. Likewise, reminders of Scotland’s struggle against the minnows (Peru, Iran and Costa Rica) echoed from the past in those moments. And more so when Frantzdy Pierrot walks out, leaving Hanley behind. It was close, very close.

But Scotland had waited a long time and when the whistle blew they got their reward. Cue the bagpipes, cue the mayhem. The noise was magnificent and long overdue. Other concerns about the performances were happily drowned out by the sound.

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