Scotland Men's Football Team

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Boston has so embraced the Tartan Army that Scotland have become "everyone's second team", according to former international winger Neil McCann.

The Kilmarnock manager recited a tale about meeting an American worker at Boston Stadium learning "Flower Of Scotland" to sing along with the national anthem before Friday's match against Morocco.

"I got in pretty early yesterday and I was waiting on the kiosks opening to buy a bottle of juice and there was a guy there, he's got the baseball cap on and the Boston t-shirt and he said 'hey buddy' and he's giving it all that 'you Scots, I love you and you've been so good for our city and we're loving it'," McCann told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.

"And he unfolds a bit of paper and he said he was here for the last game against Haiti, he heard us sing our national anthem and he went 'I have to go home and learn that because I'm working on the next game'.

"And he had the national anthem written down, the words, in his pocket 'because I'm going out there when it starts and I'm going to sing'.

"It was a wee hairs on your arm moment because you're thinking we've become that good around here that people are making us their new second team."

McCann thinks it shows that "everybody wants us to qualify".

"It just shows you how much we've been embraced over here," he added.

"It's a real camaraderie with everybody it seems like. That's something you see in rugby - I don't think we're ever going to get it in football because we are so passionate about our own teams, the rivalry is so much.

"But that mixing of support where we are just here to support our team and there's no animosity is so special."

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Former Scotland players Neil McCann and Leanne Crichton feel Kieran Tierney was put in an unfair position in the World Cup defeat by Morocco.

Tierney, usually a left-back at Celtic and left centre-back as part of a three for Scotland, was pitched into a left midfield role, seemingly to combat Morocco captain and right-back Achraf Hakimi.

"I don't think the Kieran Tierney experiment worked," 26-times capped McCann told BBC Sportsound.

"I felt at times a wee bit sorry for him. It hindered us. We'd no ability to get out and hurt them.

"The tactical plan by using Tierney to mark Hakimi didn't work at all. I felt that would be the wrong thing to do, that following job because it would disrupt us a wee bit."

And Crichton, who won 72 caps and featured at two major tournament finals, added: "How do you replicate in training chasing one of the opposition about the pitch? I think it's impossible to replicate that. It becomes really unnatural. For Tierney, how has he been able to be prepped to really play against that?"

Tierney made way after an hour, with winger Ben Gannon-Doak introduced. Gannon-Doak played 75 minutes of the opening group win against Haiti.

"Ben Gannon-Doak quite clearly didn't start the game yesterday based on fitness and output," said Rangers women head coach Crichton. "I don't think Steve Clarke thought he had 90 minutes in him. He only had 60 minutes.

"What Ben Gannon-Doak needs to do now over his career is get himself to a level that he can play consistently and that you can always have your best players available for 90-plus minutes because tournament football needs that.

"He made such a difference when he came on."

Kilmarnock manager McCann had Findlay Curtis on loan from Rangers in the second half of last season and said of the Scotland winger, who did not feature against Morocco after a brief substitute appearance in the 1-0 defeat of Haiti: "He always does something in a game.

"He'll get a cross in, he'll get into a dangerous area, he'll put someone on the back foot, he'll get a corner. How many corners did we get last night? It was one."

We asked for your views following Scotland's 1-0 World Cup Group C defeat by Morocco.

Here are some of your replies:

Douglas: Another poor display. When will Steve (passback) Clarke realise to win a game you must score goals?

Steve: The ref had a great game - fell for nothing from either team. Embarrassing to see Clarke claiming Morocco should have been down to 10 men and we should have had a penalty, when neither is true and everyone can see it.

Stuart: Where was VAR? When you see the incidents you think that's a penalty, VAR will kick in. But not for minnows, sad this will probably cost us qualification to the next round.

Daniel: One of the worst performances so far this World Cup in terms of the officials. Che Adams was through on goal and was taken out. He would have had an obvious goalscoring opportunity so it should havwe been a red card. The John McGinn claim was an obvious penalty. I was surprised that VAR was not involved and once again there is talking points about all the decisions going Morocco's way, like in the Afcon final.

Rob: The worst Scotland team in 50 years. Clarke and his coaching crew should have been shown the door years ago. Dykes is a third division flop and most of the squad are well past it. Stop mugging the punters and shove off!

Jim: I think our manager reverted to type and all the old favourites got a game. The ref seemed to be a throwback to the 1970s with most decisions and Morocco seemed content with one goal. We came into it late on but unfortunately didn't have a cutting edge. Now need a big luck of the draw.

Robert: I think Scotland were unlucky with some decisions but for most of the game Morocco were on a different level.

Jayeffell: Let's put on a performance v Brazil but our big-time players have to show up. In interviews Scott McTominay and Andy Robertson look gaunt. Have we overdone it in training? Ben Gannon-Doak not the answer yet. Just a poor man's James Forrest who at least gets crosses in and the odd goal.

Tom: I find it very strange that one referee can choose to allow a 'more robust' game when others don't. How on earth are players supposed to know what is or is not acceptable? Similar incident to the Adams scenario happened in the Scottish Premiership and was given as a penalty. For me this one was more clear cut.

Max: The ref was fantastic, we need more like him. It was a much better watch not having fouls blown for the slightest of touches every two seconds. Scotland can't feel aggrieved given that he was applying the same consistency throughout, they should focus on creating and converting actual chances.

• This was the earliest ever winning goal in a 1-0 win in World Cup history, with Ismael Saibari netting after 70 seconds. The previous earliest was England against Paraguay in 2006 (third minute).

• Scotland have now lost 17 of their past 19 matches in all competitions against nations who are in the top six of the Fifa world rankings when facing them (W1 D1), losing nine of their latest 10 (D1).

• Morocco completed 601 passes, the most by an African team in a World Cup match on record since 1966.

• Scotland conceded inside the opening two minutes of a major tournament game for the first time – the previous earliest goal they'd let in had been in the fourth minute in World Cup games against Paraguay in 1958 and Brazil in 1998.

• Scotland's starting XI contained players with a combined 609 caps for their country, their most ever for a match in their history.

• Morocco's Ayyoub Bouaddi (18y 260d) became only the fourth African player aged 18 or younger to start multiple matches at a World Cup; the others are Rigobert Song for Cameroon in 1994, Salomon Olembe for Cameroon in 1998 and Bartholomew Ogbeche for Nigeria in 2002.

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Wolves are keen on bringing Scotland striker Che Adams, 29, back from Torino this summer. (Tuttomercato - in Italian), external

Saturday's gossip

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Ryan Christie

"If we'd played five more minutes we might have just had them. It was frustrating with the start to the game, that's not how you plan. It would have been easy to chase the game and get a bit disjointed, we didn't do that. I think we limited them to very little in the second half and started to play our football. It just wasn't to be, getting that equaliser.

"It's [refereeing] normally very strict on the international stage, the referee seemed to be letting everything go and maybe a bit too much.

"We need to take confidence. The immediate feeling is disappointment and frustration but this group of boys will bounce back. The team spirit right now is through the roof. We'll get together, recover and be ready to go in Miami."

Lyndon Dykes

"We're disappointed because we didn't win the game but there was some positives at the end there. We showed good character, and we've still got more one game.

"We were putting on a lot of pressure, being braver and getting bodies higher up the pitch. We were just unfortunate not to get that clear cut chance. We have to perform against Brazil now, but I believe in my team and the manager."

Lewis Ferguson

"We had the worst possible start, we didn't touch the ball and gave away such a slack goal.

"We were growing into the game, we were starting to feel really comfortable and I thought the second half performance was outstanding even though we've come away with nothing.

"It just shows you how difficult it is to win a game at the World Cup. I've seen a lot of negative stuff about winning against Haiti but this just shows you how hard it is to win games at the World Cup.

"I'm delighted at the response but gutted with the result, the performance probably deserved a point."

John McGinn

"Definitely [he should have had a penalty] I have seen it back. I think when a defender is running at that speed, it doesn't matter what player it is, you get the ball past them and you're taken out it's a penalty kick but we don't make the decisions, the referee makes the decisions and tonight he decided it wasn't a penalty.

"We'll need to take it on the chin. Tonight I certainly think in the big, big moments decisions haven't gone our way.

"We've come a long way as a country and as a group. We need to start showing our personality but tonight we've got to be proud of how we reacted.

"We could have folded but the second half we showed a lot more character and intent and on another day we could have drawn or won that game."

Che Adams:

"Towards the end we were pushing for the equaliser. We didn't manage to get there but it was a proud performance, let down by the early goal which was a sucker punch.

"We reacted well and we were unlucky not to get the goal in the end.

"We just have to believe. We put in a good performance there towards the end. There's confidence there to build on and that's what the boys are thinking about.

"They've been amazing. I've seen the videos online and the support they've been giving us is nothing short of sensational."

Have your say on the game via this link

Scotland conceded after just 71 seconds to fall to a World Cup defeat against a classy Morocco, but their hopes of a historic knockout place remain in their own hands with one group game to go.

Read the full match report here.

Let us know your thoughts here.

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Scotland head coach Steve Clarke: "Thought we were good. Terrible start but the reaction to that was good. We had to dig in for five or 10 minutes just to get our feet in the game.

"Once we were in the game, we showed we could cause them problems. The disappointment would be that we didn't create the one clear cut chance that would have got us the point.

"This group of players, this squad, have shown that [resilience] in abundance over the years. They're in there, their flat, disappointed, but we've got another chance.

"Everybody is talking about the Scott McTominay [penalty incident]. I actually looked at the John McGinn one, which was 50-50. Some referees would give it, some don't. Sometimes VAR will get involved.

"I was a little bit disappointed in the last man foul [from Diop on Adams]. For me, Che might be clear through on goal. On another day, you might get those decisions.

"This team are ready to go again. We're here to try and do what no Scottish team has done before. We gave it everything tonight, and we'll try and do it again."