Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
John McGinn wants Scotland to show “more of our personality” when they face Brazil in their final World Cup Group C game.
Scotland went down 1-0 to Morocco on Friday, leaving them third in Group C.
They take on five-time world champions Brazil on Wednesday. Victory would be enough to see Scotland through, while a draw may well do the job, too.
Scotland have never progressed beyond the group stage at the World Cup, though, and McGinn feels they will need to be better when it comes to stamping their authority on proceedings against Brazil than they were against Morocco.
“We have come a long way as a country and as a group,” McGinn said.
“They [Morocco] are filled with elite players, but we’ve got some elite players in there as well, so we need to start showing more of our personality, but we’ve got to be proud of how we reacted.
“We could have folded, but in the second half we showed a lot more character and intent and we could have easily on another day drawn that game or even won.
“We know what we need to do and we’re excited for it.
“It will be different conditions, but conditions we’ve prepared for. Looking forward to the game, a big occasion for us.
“Brazil are a famous football nation, filled with players playing at a high level, so we’ll have to be at our best to get something from the game, but we’re excited by the challenge.”
Morocco got the ball after 14 seconds, kept it and then 56 seconds later they scored the quickest goal of the 2026 FIFA World Cup so far.
Some finish from Ismael Saibari, too. pic.twitter.com/bSyUdJ9Heh
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) June 19, 2026
Scotland’s starting XI against Morocco contained players with a combined 609 caps for their country, their most ever for a match in their history.
However, they conceded inside the opening two minutes of a major tournament match for the first time – the previous earliest goal they had let in had been in the fourth minute in World Cup games against Paraguay in 1958 and Brazil in 1998.
Scotland only had six attempts, failing to get any on target, though they did have two penalty appeals turned down.
“We don’t make the decisions, but I certainly think the big, big moments haven’t gone our way,” McGinn said.
“Second half, I think we showed a lot more intent, a lot more bravery to go and hurt them.
“But when you’re not creating clear chances in open play, you need certain breaks to go for you against the top teams.
“We could have crumbled after the goal, we didn’t.
“Did we play amazing? No, but they are a top side and they’ll limit you to very little at all, so when you get those opportunities and they make mistakes – fouling someone in the box is a mistake – and they’ve not been punished for it, it’s just football and you take the hit, keep your chin up and be ready for Wednesday.”
Morocco completed 601 passes, the most by an African team in a World Cup match on record since 1966, and Mohamed Ouahbi hailed the control his team had.
He said: “I see it as progress compared to the first game. So in the end, we are happy with the result; we wanted three points, and we got them. That was the main objective.
“I believe we controlled the game, but when you don’t score a second goal, obviously, we have to defend because Scotland had a very intense approach with very long balls. But I couldn’t be happier with the performance.”
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