Scotland Drink Boston Dry

One game down, three points in the bag and Scotland lead Group C at the World Cup.

It's been a glorious start to the 2026 tournament, so join us as we look back on the Tartan Army's Boston invasion and ahead to the second game against Morocco. 

Will Steve Clarke go with one up top? Will Boston get more booze on tap in time? Andrew Slaven, Findlay Marks and Laura Brannan are loving every second of this summer of football.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello! Welcome to the Scottish Football Show! We're gonna win the World Cup! We're of course going to get it! And we're still gonna get back to Latin America! We are at the World Cup! We are back! And it feels fucking class. I am joined by Laura Brann, who's at TNT Sports, but for the last three weeks, she's been in America doing American things, eating really bad food, and not getting a tan, even though it's been roasty toasty, and Finn Marks coming to us live from Australia, who have won a World Cup game themselves. Yes, you're in your car again, look like you're punting gear, once more, um straight from Paisley.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

That's uh Paisley vibe straight in. It's uh it's kind of one of two looks we've got, isn't it? It's just like pasty holidaymaker that Laura's got, or uh council scheme drug dealer in the dark in his car.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yeah, Finn. Can I just start off? Because obviously Scotland it's been a great start for Scotland in terms of um, but like I'm I'm working on like a content creator project for Dzone right now, and we've got uh Australian girl called Danny Perello who has been like doing the zone for do you know Danny? She's amazing, and the thing is like obviously Scotland have been going amazing like in Boston, like the scenes have been totally class, but like this little project, it's like capturing all the stuff that's happening at home, and it looks like it's been amazing in Australia as well. Like, are you is it feeling good over there? Obviously, Australia who did they beat? It was Tunisia, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 2:04

It's it's just incredible. I think like in in general, like I think we kind of all all knew it was going to go this way. Like, there was just like such negativity there always is and everything going into the tournament. Well, in Australia, uh like all over. I think just like the coverage pre-tournament was all about like all the kind of like dark and dingy things going on in the States and with Infantino and Trump and the teams not getting allowed in and all this stuff, the hydration breaks masked as uh commercial breaks and all this kind of stuff. And as always, once the football starts, not to say that any of that stuff is trivial and shouldn't be talked about, but um once the football starts, everybody just gets into it, and I think as as a whole, the tournament so far has just been so immensely enjoyable. All these incredible stories that have been happening, the little subtext, the the football itself, like we've seen some great games, some great goals. Um being in Australia, weirdly, for the most part, it's really good times for the kickoffs as well. So I'm like basically waking up to highlights of one game and then watching through three more matches before lunchtime. And it's been brilliant. And and in Australia, like it's yeah, it's it was it's been fantastic. I think there's such a there's such a um fervo that comes even for people that wouldn't normally watch football, or football's not like their main sport. It's a bit like the Olympics, you just kind of catch the fever of it and you get into it, and um even casual fans are watching, so like yeah, being in the pub watching the turkey game was fantastic, like and and you see the scenes in Fed Square and um all around Australia like kicking off, it's brilliant. But that that's every country at the moment, and and like seeing Scotland fans whether they're you know at 6 a.m. on Byers Road, like crowding round the little pubs and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

I saw there was uh the the London tube at 5 30 in the morning and there was a shot on the Victoria. How's the times been for you, Andrew?

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Well, I've got three kids, so I never sleep anyway. So but um it's it's been fine. I mean obviously I stayed up. I tried to I tried to go to sleep when the kids went to sleep at like 7 7 30. Um yes, I'm a tyrant. Uh but that didn't happen, so I just stayed up and got in the beers at about 10 o'clock. Um But this this whole this whole tournament, you're absolutely right, Finn. It's like it's so good at bringing people together. Like the stuff that I've seen from across the world, because this I know I'm I'm not plugging the zone here, but like we've got 48 creators from every nation, and like the stuff that we're getting from Iraq is class. The guy that we've got for from Iran as well, like given everything that's happening there, like he's travelled to America and is doing like reviews of the Persian food in America and going like I've been in Iran and stuff. So it's like really interesting, just just fun stuff. Um, but it's bringing people together. I mean, there must have been so many Hearts, Celtic and Rangers fans hugging and kissing each other with John McKinsey, Laura. Who met who were you hugging and who were you kissing? I hope it was your husband.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

You strangers the whole thing, Laura.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Like, you need to tell us like everything about what it's been like because you're like ground zero, you've been in Boston and all the stuff we're talking about. Like, you've been live literally part of and living the scenes. Like, we're getting photographs from Laura on WhatsApp or whatever, and it's like just to the left of whatever you're seeing on the news broadcasts coming through from like all the Scotland things, so it must have just been class being out there, absolutely class.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Uh unreal, unreal. So I I was West Coast for a few weeks before, um, and then switched into all cut mode mode by flying to Boston. Honestly, the everything in terms of the the culture change just switched because you're you're there are Scotland fans everywhere, and they're not all staying in Boston. There's some in Providence, there's some in New York, and some seem to be coming coming and going um in and around the games. Obviously, there's a kind of six-day break in between the two. Um walking down the street in Boston on what was it, Monday. So two days after the game, you could literally not walk down one street without seeing a Scotland fan. They're still all decked out in their Scotland gear. Um, and even the ones that aren't, you can still tell which ones are Scottish at glance. Um, we we drank Boston Dry as well. Um we were in a pub, went into a pub on the Sunday night, so yeah, 24 hours after the game, and they had nothing except one IPA on tap. Everything else was just bottles or cans, and we decided to go next door to the other pub, and we heard about an hour later that the pub had shut, they'd closed, and this was about six o'clock in the evening, because they had just ran out of drink.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Do you know what there was no um first well, first question what was your favourite beer that you had in America? Did you note it down? Did you you know there's like when you go to beer events or beer festivals, they normally come with a little menu and you're supposed to tick off every beer that you've had, sort of thing. Was there anything that stood out? Because I love beer.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

I I I honestly can't remember um trying the all the the different local each other. Or I was pissed everyone. I'm also I just I I default go to Guinness as well, so I'm not very good at answering that.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Um Do you know my my wonderful wife had an amazing marketing idea, and I cannot believe tenants did it do didn't do it, or I didn't see anything around tenants doing it. But given it's Boston, why didn't tenants do a huge fan park or fan stadium and called it the Boston Tea Party? I can't believe what a mess that is. Because there wouldn't have been a reason to stop them, and it would have been a great way to introduce Americans to Tenant Super.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

I wonder if there's been some sort of advertising restrictions because I think I saw somebody else mention this as well, but nothing's branded. I mean, look at all the stadium names that have just been defaulted back to their location name. Um I I don't know if there's some restriction there. They had the Scotland House. Um that's that's um so it's that's a little bit further north in the main downtown area of Boston. Uh location-wise, it's a little bit of a pain to get to because you can't just kind of rock out of the pub and go, Oh, I'm gonna just pop into the the the um Scotland House the same way you possibly could with a fan zone if you've got well, they're doing passes this year, which is a bit annoying because it's not just kind of as free going as normal, but um, so it's a little bit of a kind of extra effort um and a commitment to go to Scotland House, but once you're there it's actually really good, and they had tenants as well. Um there is a heat wave, um, they are classing it as a heat wave in Boston just now, so it's been messing with the pipes as well for in different pubs, and I think there was a power outage for the tenants at Scotland House on the Friday the Thursday night, so they um delayed the kind of they had to cool it for longer in the morning on the Friday, so there was a bit of a shortage going into that day. Um Friday, I think. I think there was a few more bottles of water going around than most people can have planned for.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

But what about what about the stadium, Laura? What was it like going like travelling there and then the atmosphere and the match itself? Because what was really cool was the fact that Flower of Scotland broke the sound record, didn't it?

SPEAKER_03 9:44

Yeah, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Like it did the fucking Vu-Voo Sailors, man, from South Africa 2010. That's how like I've never been so more passionate, proud of being Scottish than breaking the sound barrier.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

They had the sound barrier up on the big screen before it, um, and they were really toying with it, going, Come on, get louder, get louder, how can you go? And you could kind of see it hitting, I think it was around 120 or something. I think Florida Scotland was 125. Um, I didn't see it during the anthem, so I don't know where they were recording or well, they weren't making it obvious at that point. But it just felt like a home game. It was just it's it's all Scotland fans. Yeah, you're getting a few talking Haiti fans around, but it just it felt almost normal. Um, one thing I've been saying about the World Cup is you actually weirdly don't see a lot of the World Cup when you're at the World Cup because you're either in pubs and they either don't have the commentary on or it's drowned out by like people chatting and having fun and stuff. So you're not giving it your full concentration, you it's there and it's on, but you're not watching games religiously, or you're actually about missing them completely. So now that I'm at home, I'm actually looking forward to sitting on the couch and watching the games, but because of that, you're not really in the mode, you're not seeing all the build-up, the pundits chatting and stuff, and all the TV coverage. So it's not like how you grew up watching the World Cup, which is what we've always done on a couch. Um, it's it's strange being in a stadium and experience, so it just kind of feels like another away game, um, but with World Cup branding everywhere, so it's a bit kind of like this is really cool. This is actually like it's hard to sink in that you're in something different.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

I am, and I'm sure Finn's in the same boat, and many Scottish people are in the same boat as how jealous we all are of you being out there to witness Scotland, and yet, and and so many people have gone out there. I've always said, like, oh, when Scotland gets to the next World Cup, I will be there, I'll do it, and it's just not worked out like this. It's but regardless, like it we're just watching from afar, just how so so proud we are of the fan base, going and just just telling how everyone how class we are.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

And look at how much like they've won all the the the love and admiration from the locals that the Boston love Scotland and see the guy see the guy that was that that went viral with posting a photo of the guys that were doing bagpipes at six in the morning at a wee house across from him, and then eventually he ended up getting a ticket.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

I don't know how he got a ticket or who it was, and is now an honorary Scotland. Like just these are the reasons why World Cups are so special, regardless of where it is.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Things like even the the the slide, the the the viral pop slide as it's been called, um which I didn't know about it before that seen the videos, but like the everyone's just there to have fun, and uh the only downs the only thing the only criticism I've seen was when two boys wearing a Celtic top got booed. And the Celtic fans on Twitter get a bit precious, but oh that's that's out of order. It's like no no, you don't wear team colours. We're clean colours, and it's it's I think there are there are some people wearing team colours to be fair, and it's it's it's not on, but there's a few locals as well who are Celtic fans, and I I saw a couple of Americans wearing Celtic tops. Um, and I don't know if it's like a kind of innocence and naive from them, but uh absolutely fair game to go, no guys, you don't wear that. Like, well, given the fact and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Given the fact Celtic fans normally get um, you know, don't normally support the Scotland team uh to a degree. Some people would suggest that.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Um it's all very good spirits, though. Um everyone is absolutely loved having the Scots around. Um there's other fans as well. There was um the last day I was there was um Iran and Norway fans, no Iraq and Norway fans were there. Um at one point I turned around uh just sitting having breakfast, and there was American fans and Mexico fans sitting there, and it was just like this is so nice, just seen all the different strips. Um there was a Cape group of Cape Verde fans yesterday all shouting. Um they were celebrating that they'd held Spain to the zero. The terminology's great. Um some of the the Americanisms and stuff. Um it's lovely just seeing all these different tops and fans, and that's kind of the one thing I wanted from the World Cup was seeing all the different supporters and and not European ones as well, because we're always used to playing not European teams. It's it's seeing like the Kate Verde fans, Mexico fans, love that so much.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

You you said earlier that it's like um being there is not like experiencing the World Cup when you're at home as a kid, like when you're brought up in it. What do you value more? The fact that you've been there and experienced the build-up and the game, or do you look back and and think more and you're more thankful for the upbringing that you had?

SPEAKER_02 14:47

I don't it's you know what I see I do see like people.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

I've gone deep Finn.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Yeah, I mean like there's there's people walking about their kids and you're like good age, like not like not like toddlers, but like kids who are like maybe 10 years old who really probably understand it at this point. And I am jealous that I never got to do that, like my parents. They never took me when I was a young age and got to experience that sort of holiday with them. But at the same time, it's like it's a cliche, like you know, you don't have the rain without the rainbow without the rain, you've got to go through all the shit to get the good stuff, like exactly. We we appreciate it more now because we never had it growing up, so it you do it's it's all so sentimental because of that. We don't get it every year, so it becomes even more special.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

So, what are we thinking then? Scotland are top of the group uh after Brazil and Morocco played at a one-one draw. Did you so Laura, did you watch the Brazil-Morocco game?

SPEAKER_02 15:45

We caught the end of it once we were inside the stadium. That's actually something really tough. The whole experience of getting in and out um was quite something, by the way. It's it's maybe worth talking about that as well. The um I've seen a few fans like kind of complain about the transport system. Like, I don't think anyone's surprised that the transport system is not built for a World Cup in any way, so it's it's hard work. They they're used to the trains there are used to moving around a thousand people a day. And they apparently moved about twenty thousand just for the game alone. They didn't give set train times, they gave slots, it was like five different groups you could go in, and the train was just going to leave within a certain time and arrive within like an hour, rough hour that they gave you. Um there was a very, very long queue snaking all the way around the station, but it moved and it was kind of constantly going, so it was fine. There was just a kind of the whole process was quite slow, but it was okay because we were in the first group, I think it went quite smoothly. We just had enough time to make it comfortable, but later people than us, and we left Boston around 2 pm for a 9 pm kickoff. Wow, wow, people leaving around 5 pm. I can I can't even imagine the stress they were going through. Going back was horrible. Um there was about uh the distance of the the kind of entrance to the queue for the train to the actual train station was about 30 yards, and they did the whole airport sile of snaking up and down, up and down, and we must have moved like we moved about 30 yards in the space of about an hour of just snaking up and down. It was horrible, but again, it was moving, so it was better than the Germany experience of leaving the Munich stadium, which was just standing there for an hour, two hours of just doing nothing, and no one communicates with you or anything, so it's hard work.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

You did I uh that because that was one of the funniest things I remember because obviously the the the that day, the day the Scotland game uh straight after Scotland Haiti was Australia Turkey. So um I'd gone to the pub to watch that with a couple of Australian friends, and um Laura was sending me pictures in the queue of like what was happening on the screen because I think you had a big screen that was shown the Australia game. Thank God for that, and she kept everyone seen. But it was like pretty much during the course of the whole game, so like pre-match all the way to the final whistle. I could just see from Laura's pictures like what stage of the queue she was at by how close and what angle she was away from the screen. And I was like, You're still there. It was like two and a half hours later or something. That was quite funny.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Let's um let's not talk about the perf Scotland's performance against Haiti and just focus on the result. However, um Morocco looked pretty good against Brazil, um, to the point where Emily, my wife, was like, Morocco looked pretty good, and I was like, Yeah, they were semi-finalists, they weren't the last World Cup, they they looked pretty good, um, which worries me a little bit. Uh, don't get me wrong. Are are you worried, Finn? Should we be playing differently? Uh in terms of we went four for two in the first game. It feels pretty obvious that we're not going to be four-for-two against Morocco.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Um, uh yeah, we'd be surprised if that happened. I think that was always kind of the way to do it. I think that's why Clark looked at doing it, especially against the opposition in the in the warm-up friendlies, because they would be more of a similar level to Haiti, played to up front, and it worked well. I saw a lot of people just to touch briefly on the Haiti thing, because I think it affects how we play in Mexico as well. Um I think there were a lot of people that were disappointed we didn't beat Haiti by more. Um and there's definitely an argument to that, but I think like given given the the weight of what it was and the yeah, the magnitude of it, our first World Cup game for 28 years, and in winning was our first World Cup won in 36 years. At that point, we were the only European nation that had won a game, and at the still going forward, we're the only European nation other than Spain that I think that have kept a clean sheet so far. So I I I'd I would be surprised if we went in. The the main thing to me was always you you need to get the win. Like it it doesn't it doesn't matter. 3-0 would have been lovely, 4-0 would have been great. 1-0's all that really mattered because that's three points and it's a win on the board, and it just puts you in the best possible position going forward. Another thing is seeing all the other draws that are going on in the other group games, it weirdly puts us in a better position. The more draws there are, three points could get you through in third place. Um but going into the Morocco game, yeah, I'd be surprised if they did two up front. I think it will be one up front in that game. I wonder if he would slightly change the midfield. I was really impressed by Lewis Ferguson in the Haiti game. I thought he was the best of the midfielders. I think McGinn and McTominay looked a bit sluggish, maybe understandable with the end of the season McGuinn had had, and uh the fact that McTominay had been, you know, um pooing his guts out for the two days before. So hopefully there's a bit more time to get settled on that. But yeah, I was wondering maybe if Ryan Christie comes in for that one in midfield as well, if you're going for the extra player there. Um the pa the lack of pace at the back worries me, but I think we'll be sitting deeper anyway. Um maybe just try and go in the counter. So I wonder if instead of um Shanklin up front, he just goes with Adams just to have that pace in an outball, or you go with just Dykes as a kind of battering ram up front. Um so it'd be interesting to see what happens. I before the before the group's weird, I I I thought that Morocco might beat Brazil and might finish top of the group. So I weirdly think this is our hardest game. I I do think we could potentially get something from the Brazil game if we need it. Um I I I mean I would be so impressed if we got anything out of the Morocco game, but you never know. Um I I think we've done what we've needed to so far. So let's see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

I I I kind of went into it with the mentality of like, let's just let Brazil run away with it, and hopefully by the third game, they won't need anything and they like the best players, but you start toying all these like ifs and buts and stuff, but the fact that now it's it's one point for each of them, I think it's actually going to be quite a low scoring group. I think people because they're such strong size and yeah okay there's there's a there's a baron in there somewhere for someone I can't actually call well I can't really call where or when yet but um I feel like if they're taking points off each other I actually wouldn't be surprised if Haiti pulled off a shock somewhere um somewhere as well. It's just so unpredictable that I it's soon everyone starts to try and do permutations and stuff after one game and I'm like guys I actually just enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

I I'm a bit similar to to to the people that Finn was pointing to in that as much as I don't think Haiti are mugs um I I did hope that we'd score more goals because my fear now is we do get a hiding from someone and that goal difference is important going into you know the best third place butt team is not a position I'd much rather we had pumped Haiti 4-0 and I wouldn't feel as concerned going into these next two games I think I I I think it is unpredictable but we ain't going to be scoring lots of goals that's for sure I hope I'm wrong I think Morocco are a much more dangerous side than Brazil which is funny but Brazil are such a tournament team that by the third game they could be flying they could just have everything going right we'll iron out the kinks um but let's hope we just get a penalty and grind out a 1-0 win against Brazil eh that could be good we're we're we're due one against Brazil as well we've had every group stage since 19 canteen and they've always beaten us whether it's pumping us or a Tommy boy down goal off his chest to get past us.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

So we're due one and uh yeah I I I think that might be how it goes.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

I think we we might not get a good a result at all against Morocco but then we'll uh we'll finally beat Brazil 3-0 there you go make a prediction just to finish off on that on the World Cup stuff before we probably move on to a few domestic matters um isn't it bittersweet that we wait 28 years to be in a World Cup and then we score in the 28th minute I did not see that I didn't make that connection yeah it's lovely I I I also quite like it was like it was like a kind of scraft goal that was deflected and went in from a Drew Banger as well aren't we even our goal against Germany was a two two own goals in Germany as well even like McDominies was not technically McDominie's even in now this one it's about 14 players on the way in so we're always taking whatever we can get but yeah like come on we want a screamer at some point we got three in the Denmark game we've kind of filled our quote on it yeah I think even just a just a a Grant Hanley slab peed header from a corner would suit me right down to the ground I think that would be fine.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Did you see how close he was to giving away a penalty by the way oh yeah no I know they have turned into hearts with their old like let's argue about things and get the get the world organization uh FIFA involved just get on with it.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Move on again guys just get over it.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Exactly yeah exactly um should we talk about a few things that are happening back at Scotland other than parties?

SPEAKER_02 25:41

You mean there's domestic football happening right now?

SPEAKER_00 25:44

There's no domestic football but there's domestic drama Okay I can get on board with that fine okay yeah yeah yeah yeah um hearts fans are raging uh still and their summer is getting ripped apart because Rangers are stealing their best people they've already signed Lawrence Shankland who was absolute jobby against Haiti by the way and now it looks like they're taking Derek McInnes it feels like a done deal thin and as a Rangers fan um bear in mind you know McInnes turned the job down twice when he was in Abbas just once just the once what's the what's forget about the whole Rangers support what's your thoughts about Derek McInnes becoming the next Rangers manager because Danny Roll is off to Salzburg yeah it rolls away it all happened very quickly I think to be honest um I I think it makes a huge amount of sense I think Derek McInnes when he he did turn down the Rangers job eight eight years ago I think it was when it was just before Gerard was appointed and they ended up seeing it that season with Murti the I I think he's a completely different manager and a far better manager now.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Not just for the Hearts job which obviously has been an exceptional job he took him to the brink of a league title which just shouldn't happen. But the bigger one for me is the job he did at Kilmarnock I think is that and the Hearts job combined you see what he's able to do you hear ex-players talk about the way that he is an incredible motivator. He's a former Rangers player he's a Rangers fan I I think weirdly it's what Rangers need right now. Someone who just gets that in almost weirdly the same way as Celtic bringing in Martin O'Neill with the best will in the world a guy who'd been retired for a decade a bit of a football dinosaur it works at Celtic. We've said it so many times on the podcast it is different managing Rangers in Celtic you there's different soft skills that not everybody has I don't think Danny Roll had Wilfred Nancy definitely didn't have Russell Martin didn't have so I I think it's a good move. I I did see something quite funny which was um somebody had photoshopped you know is it Chris Chisholm the guy that was doing all the hearts songs towards the end of the season The Hearts Hearts Glorious Hearts they'd photoshopped him in a ranger shirt singing simply the best at IBRC at the start of the season so that would be Shhanklund their manager and their singer all moving to iBrox I thought that would be quite Prod Stewart Prod Stewart absolutely delightful I mean it's it's it's it's a bit it's a big bit of news and it's devastating for hearts but I it'd be interesting to see what hearts do now as well I think McKinnon's probably would have been there one more year anyway before Tony Bloom might try and bring somebody else in. So it's all changed but kind of in a really exciting way the championship will be box office next year again well I certainly hope so.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Martin O'Neill signed on at Celtic for another year which I think is I I'm gonna be honest I think it's daft. I don't know what the Celtic board are thinking by what just delaying the inevitable and what are they planning for? What's where's the are they is it a succession plan? Are they going to bring someone in as well?

SPEAKER_02 29:06

I'm very confused why he didn't just go in his technical director or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

I was not in this just figure it out the now uh if you're gonna do it because he's leaving after a yeah just just weird. Um Laura anything you want to finish the podcast off with no just apart from uh we're gonna go and win the World Cup. Let's go win the World Cup of Scotland. Let's go win the party Steve Clark he's a very good manager. Good Clark if you if you're still listening so you should be it's been good fun. Go and enjoy the rest of the World Cup goodbye