Scotland fans lose hope of reaching knock-out stages after Brazil defeat

By Danyel VanReenen, Press Association Scotland

Morose Scotland fans in Edinburgh have told how they feel there is “no hope whatsoever” of going through to the next World Cup stage after defeat to Brazil.

Hopes faded among the Tartan Army as the national team’s prospects of advancing in the tournament now depend on permutations among the results of other World Cup groups.

Speaking to the Press Association in Edinburgh on Thursday morning, Jack Lough, 20, from Glasgow, described the 3-0 loss on Wednesday night as a “terrible game”.

He said: “I thought we could have done a lot better at pushing the team and putting a bit of pressure on. We definitely could have done better.”

After watching the match at his girlfriend’s house, Lough said he “doesn’t have a lot of hope” that Scotland will make it through to the knock-out stages.

Allan Potts, 68, of Edinburgh, said he went to bed at 12:30am when Brazil’s third goal went in, and he had found the game “hugely disappointing”.

He told PA: “I don’t know where we got the idea that we would get something from the game. I was really disappointed in the performance.”

He said he has “absolutely no hope whatsoever” of getting through to the next stage.

“I’m a realist,” he said. “I’ve been a Scotland fan all my life, going back as far as 1974.

“I think we were unlucky drawing both Morocco and Brazil in the same group – two teams who were in the top 10 – it was always going to be a hard task.”

Alan Glen, 66, also said he fears Scotland’s time at the World Cup is over after defensive errors cost them against Brazil.

“I obviously wasn’t happy for Scotland to give away two goals to a team like Brazil, they don’t really need encouragement,” he said.

“That was just devastating, and as usual we’ll probably go out by one goal.”

Glen said he had been hopeful Scotland could secure a draw on Wednesday night.

“I thought we might have got at least maybe a point against Brazil. I just felt that the way we played at the end against Morocco, I thought, yeah, we might get something, but it’s Brazil isn’t it?”

Scotland will have to wait until the last group games conclude to see whether they make it to the knock-out stage, with only the top eight teams who placed third in their group advancing.

The men’s team currently sit at number seven out of 12 on the third-place table.