Clarke: Scotland will suffer Morocco loss before preparing for Brazil

Steve Clarke says Scotland‘s players will “suffer” the disappointment of their 1-0 World Cup defeat by Morocco before getting ready for Brazil next week.

After beating Haiti in their Group C opener, a draw against the African champions at the Boston Stadium would have all-but guaranteed a spot in the last 32.

Morocco, ranked sixth in the world, scored through Ismael Saibari after 70 seconds and, after rolling with the punches to avoid further damage, the Scots improved after the break but were unable to find a leveller – albeit they had two penalty claims ignored by Uzbekistan referee Ilgiz Tantashev.

Scotland could still reach the last 32 with a haul of three points but a draw against Brazil in Miami should be enough for a first-ever appearance in the knockout stages.

Clarke said: “Yeah, of course (plenty of confidence), but first of all you have to let the players suffer a little bit over the next 48 hours because that’s what they’ll do, they don’t like losing against anybody.

“So we’ll rest, recover and ready to go again.

“The games don’t get much easier though, eh?

“I thought we picked ourselves up first half to be fair.

“Maybe we took 10 minutes to get in it again because obviously you get a setback like, it is really difficult to respond.

“Weaker teams would have crumbled against that quality of opposition but we dug in, we got ourselves back in the game, started moving the ball about a little bit better.

“I thought second period of the first half after the hydration break, we were good in the game, we had a good momentum going into half-time and we carried that into the second half, we had a right go.

“Proud of the players, but obviously we’re all devastated and disappointed that we didn’t get the result we wanted so that we can carry on in this competition as long we can.”

Scotland’s spot-kick claims came after the break when Neil El Aynaoui tangled with midfielder John McGinn inside the box and the same Morocco player felled Scott McTominay inside the penalty area in the latter stages as Clarke’s side went all out for an equaliser.

The Scotland boss said: “Everyone in the flash area, where I did my interviews, told me about the Scott McTominay one, that’s the only one I didn’t watch back because I don’t get much time, I have to come out and speak to you guys.

“I thought the John McGinn one was 50-50, some will give it.

“I think if the referee gives it the VAR doesn’t overturn it. So I can only speak on that one.

“I was a little bit 50-50 as well on the Che Adams, last man .

“He had a chance to go through one-on-one with the goalkeeper and he gets brought down by (Issa Diop) and again, the referee chooses yellow and VAR backs the referee but there’s nothing we can do about it.”