Steve Clarke on Scotland's World Cup chances after Brazil defeat: 'I think we're going home'

Steve Clarke says he feels like Scotland are “going home” after a 3-0 defeat to Brazil.

The Scotland boss wasn’t hopeful that the Scots will get out of the group after a 3-0 defeat in Miami at the hands of the Group C winners.

Goals from Vini Jnr in the first half after Scotland’s mistakes proved costly, before Matheus Cunha struck on the hour mark to secure a comfortable win.

Scotland can only hope to finish as one of the best eight third-placed teams, and currently sixth in that table, but with every other team having a game still to play.

Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Form
Brazil	3	2	1	0	7	1	+6	7	D W W
Morocco	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7	D W W
Scotland	3	1	0	2	1	4	-3	3	W L L
Haiti	3	0	0	3	2	8	-6	0	L L L

Updated 25 Jun 2026, 02:53

Clarke said post-match: “At this moment in time, it feels like we’re going home. I think minus three [goal difference] is too much.

“It’s very difficult for me to compute in my head what to do going forward.

“I’ve signed a long-term contract, but I need to go away and have a little think about how we can be better in the future.”

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John McGinn added that mistakes get punished at the level of the World Cup.

“Brazil punished us, I don’t think overall they opened us up too many times it was self-inflicted mistakes,” he said.

“It leaves us in the worst possible position from this morning…tonight we’ve made it very difficult.”

He added: “If we get the luck, maybe we do deserve it but if we go out, we deserve to go out.”

And some fans shared the same sentiment following the full-time whistle in Miami.

One told STV News: “Round of 32? Are you having a laugh?”, while another added: “I’m desperately disappointed, I think we could do something more proactive.

“I realise we had to be more defensive here against a team like that, but I’m desperately disappointed.”

Back home, at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, there were glimmers of optimism.

Michael Lavelle, 29, from the south side of Glasgow, was disappointed with the performance.

But he added: “We’re not out yet. We’ve still got a chance to go through.

“We could have gone through tonight. We could have gone through against Morocco – but it’s just the same old, same old.”

Coffee shop manager Alex MacPherson, 27, from Dingwall, said: “Not great, but could be worse.

“We’ll take it. We’ll just hope for everything to go our way now. We’ve got a 45-50% chance to get through. Fingers crossed we get through and then we’ll play Mexico or Germany – either way we’ll batter them.”