What does it matter if Scotland loses but makes history?

“If you look at Brazil in the last game (against Haiti) before halftime, it’s 3-0,” Naismith noted. “The way the game is going today (Spain leads Saudi Arabia 3-0 after 24 minutes)… so there has to be a game plan, but that doesn’t mean we sit in our 18-yard box for 90 minutes because that’s impossible given the conditions and the opposition.”

The heat in Miami will be oppressive, considerably hotter than Boston. Expecting Scotland to ‘go for it’ like mad dogs in a slaughterhouse betrays a serious lack of understanding of the weather here.

“It’s the moments in the game where we think we’re dominating, we have to take risks and be ready,” Naismith said. “But there are going to be tough moments where we have to set our shape and wait.

“Some of their players have the same characteristics as the Moroccan forwards. We will go and do what we have to do to get through the group.

“That’s ultimately what we’re here to do. But we’ve got to make sure we’re strong because, as you’ve seen in some results, teams are brutal when they get a chance.

“I sat here last week and said, if we qualify from the group, this is the first squad to do it. I think this squad deserves to do it. I think we’ve got the players to do it and I think we’ve got the manager to do it.

“The magnitude of these games is definitely as (big) as any game (the players) have played, but you know you can be punished at any moment. You have to turn.”

Naismith spoke of Scotland going into the final third and then making poor decisions, which is a quality thing and despite the reputation of some of these Scotland players they went up against more skilled operators in Boston last Friday and they will do the same again in Miami on Wednesday.

“When we have possession, and we get a good feel for the game under our control, we have to take risks to try and score,” he said. “That’s what needs to change.

“We don’t need to go, ‘If we lose 4-0, we still have a chance to go’. We must take chances, but I’d rather have a proper game plan than just go, let’s go for it.”

This is the essential peculiarity of the situation in Scotland. If they’re 1-0 down late on, do they push, or do they settle? If they are 2-0 down, do they put more men forward or chase the game and risk losing more on goal difference in the process and knocking themselves out of the tournament?

This is the dilemma you hope they will not face. Dan Marino, the greatest Miami Dolphin, once said of a player’s mindset: “You have to feel the best at what you do. You don’t have to come out and say it. But you have to know it in yourself.”

Brazil will know that, that’s for sure. Scotland has to believe it too.

Football is a game, but an interesting and complex game of psychology. What a damning commitment to this party.