2 hours ago
2
The booing, though. Silly, but also deeply annoying for the players, you'd imagine.
They tried to play progressive football against Ivory Coast, but they were undone too often by their own wastefulness, lack of accuracy, and a shortage of the kind of explosiveness and cleverness that Ben Gannon-Doak gives them on his best days.
The hope is that Gannon-Doak continues his recovery and is flying come Boston. The hope, too, is that Scott McTominay and John McGinn and the other totems of this team find their very best stuff on the biggest stage.
That's a lot to hope for. The alternative is to mope and boo and there's no future in that.
Scotland had 14 shots to Ivory Coast's 12 and four on target to their opponents' three. They created difficulties for a team that went through their entire World Cup qualifying campaign without conceding a goal.
Clarke's side will never be as ruthless as they were against Denmark on that famous night at Hampden - an overhead kick from McTominay, a world-class finish from Tierney, a miracle from halfway from Kenny McLean.
Lawrence Shankland's goal was a tap-in, but he admits Lewis Ferguson's corner was probably going in anyway, before he made sure.
There was a freakishness about the four goals and the whole occasion. Reality is hitting home again now.
Scotland have to get back to what has brought them joy in the recent past - huge tempo, dangerous deliveries from wide, a flooding of an opponent's penalty box, a creation of chaos, a flick-on, a ricochet, a breaking ball launched into a net.
They need McTominay and McGinn and Ryan Christie crashing into penalty areas and finishing.
They need Andy Roberton on one side and Gannon-Doak on the other whipping in crosses that spark mayhem.
As a central striker, Clarke has who he has. None of them are Harry Kane. The star quality lies elsewhere in this team. They all need to step up.
A second friendly defeat in four days was no calamity since it came on the back of an admirable performance, unworthy of booing.
Be fretful, be anxious, be a quivering wreck about what might be in America, but keep perspective, too. Scotland are there and they have a chance to do what none of their exalted predecessors have done.
Whoever's booing them now must be the type of character that smiles at themself in the mirror in the morning, just to get it over with.
