At long last – Scotland make winning return to World Cup in Boston
Reporter Ryan Nicolson was among the Shetlanders attending the Scotland-Haiti match on Saturday evening, and in this piece he reflects on his experience as the Tartan Army make their voices heard in the States
IT WAS never going to be easy, was it?
After 28 years away from the world stage, we would have taken a Scotland win by any which way. A dodgy penalty, a calamitous own goal or…a deflected John McGinn strike which was probably going to be saved by the keeper.
That’s all it took for Scotland to beat Haiti in Boston on Saturday night, but that doesn’t tell the full story of the nerves and anxiety as the team clung on to the three points.
Before the game, there was a stat that Scotland had only won four games at the World Cup across the last 96 years.
Thankfully that number has now risen to five, and I’m proud to have been lucky enough to now be witness to one fifth of Scotland’s all-time victories.
Boston has been awash with Scotland fans since we arrived in the city on Friday – you can’t go into any shop, restaurant or bar without bumping shoulders with Saltire waving supporters.
That increased exponentially on Saturday, with the salmon-coloured away kit the outfit of choice and easy to spot as the excitement ramped up throughout the day.
Scotland fans have long been seen as popular visitors across the globe, and Boston has certainly taken them to its heart. On our morning walk to the train station we were wished good luck for the game by passing locals, and later answered the usual questions from one about why so many men were wearing “skirts”.
The Haiti fans also played their part in what was a superb and lively atmosphere on Saturday. Scotland and Haiti fans embraced and took pictures together before and after the game, and the ‘No Scotland, No Party’ mantra/song was adopted by several Haitians throughout.
One tried to start a rendition on our train home at 2.30am this morning, but found he had more party in him than the bleary-eyed Scotland fans.
Attending the game on Saturday was incredible, and of course came at great financial cost for my group along with many others.
Not only that, but the infrastructure to and from the game was seriously lacking – many fans, from both sides, queued for almost three hours after the final whistle had blown waiting on trains to take them the hour journey from Foxborough back into Boston itself.
As one person pointed out, most folk waited longer than the duration of the match just to get back to their beds.
But was it worth it? Absolutely. Being in the stadium to hear Flower of Scotland being roared at a World Cup for the first time in almost three decades will live long in the memory, as will the wild celebrations following McGinn’s winner.
And so it’s on to Morocco next Friday in search of win number six. Whatever the outcome, it’s unbelievably good to see Scotland back on the big stage.
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